AMRITSAR, 27 March 2004 — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee hailed warming ties with Pakistan in a rally yesterday for his Hindu fundamentalist supporters at the end of a grueling nationwide campaign tour by his deputy.
Lal Krishna Advani, the deputy prime minister, wound up a 16-day, 4,125-kilometer (2,480-mile) trip in a bullet-proof mini-bus at Amritsar, near the Pakistani border, where he and Vajpayee addressed some 20,000 people.
“Let’s talk about Kashmir and settle that. That is the only way the problem can be resolved. There is no other way out,” Vajpayee said amid a sea of saffron and green flags of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“I have said many a time to Pakistan, we have fought many wars and what have you gained out of it?” Vajpayee said.
“You have not gained anything and you lost Bangladesh,” he said. Friday is the 34th independence anniversary of Bangladesh, which broke away from Pakistan in a bloody nine-month war backed by India.
India’s cricket team is touring Pakistan, which would have been unthinkable two years ago as the nuclear-capable neighbors looked on the verge of another war over disputed Kashmir.
“When bullets used to fly, now we’re playing cricket,” Vajpayee said. “To play you need two teams — two countries — with similar mindsets.”
Vajpayee and Advani wore traditional Sikh turbans at the rally in Amritsar, which hosts the Sikh religion’s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple.
The BJP is widely tipped to win the election, which is taking place in five rounds from April 20 to May 10, on the back of Vajpayee’s personal popularity and strong economic growth triggered by a healthy monsoon.
Advani, who is often mentioned as a successor to the 79-year-old Vajpayee, has tried to show a softer side to the BJP on his tour, surrounding himself at the start by Muslim leaders.
But Vajpayee, who is viewed as more moderate than Advani and other leading Hindu stalwarts, was clearly the star of the show in Amritsar.
“Vajpayee has a national image and stature,” said 27-year-old Washpal Sharma. “Look at what he has done for the unemployed of the country and for peace with Pakistan.”
Asked about Advani’s high-profile tour through India, Sharma said: “That’s all politics.”
Advani will head back to New Delhi for talks today with Kashmiri separatists and on Tuesday launch a similar road trip from western to eastern India starting at Porbandar, the birthplace of independence leader and peace icon Mahatma Gandhi.
The second road journey will take him through India’s vote-rich Hindi-speaking heartland, a must-win region for the BJP which has a limited presence in southern India.
He has already visited 73 of India’s 545 parliamentary constituencies on his trip to Amritsar, a BJP official said.
Advani is trying to sell the new face of the ruling BJP by promoting an image of religious moderation in a country whose large Muslim minority has felt threatened in the past by the party’s Hindu revivalist platform.
Congress Drafts Govinda for Tough Election Battle
The main opposition Congress party has recruited a top film star in the hope that glamour can win it votes as it struggles to unseat the NDA government. Govinda is the latest and biggest celebrity from Bollywood — India’s answer to Hollywood — to enter politics as parties scramble to sign up entertainers to boost their chances in next month’s poll in the movie-mad nation.
The Congress will pit Govinda, star of more than 100 films, against Petroleum Minister Ram Naik in northern Bombay’s Virar constituency, where the actor grew up. The ruling alliance and the Congress have been announcing prize star recruits almost daily, generating huge publicity in India where some actors have a cult-like following.
But Govinda, famed for his comic timing, dancing skills and “common man” touch, may have a tough time unseating Naik, who has been elected five times from the constituency.
