archive: It's their war too
It's their war too
Swapan Dasgupta
India Today
July 19, 1999
Title: It's their war too
Author: Swapan Dasgupta
Publication: India Today
Date: July 19, 1999
For the 500 or so villagers of Jaati Umra, the ancestral village of
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Punjab's Amritsar district,
history is moving a bit too fast. In March, they had assembled before
their gurdwara to offer prayers for the success of Prime Minister Atal
Bihari Vajpayee's bus diplomacy with Pakistan. Last month, they
gathered again before the gurdwara but this time the mood was
belligerent. "It's not time for prayers now but for preparing
youngsters for war, " said village elder Arjun Singh. At the village
school, the children carefully copy "Kargil hamara hai" and "jai
jawan" on their slates. "This is the only relevant lesson now," says
school teacher Naajar Singh.
Jaati Umra was once a hotbed of Khalistani terrorism. Yet, today, its
residents spout the rhetoric of Hindustan Ki Kasam. That's how Kargil
has changed the popular mood. Throughout the country, from Ladakh to
Nagaland, India is engulfed in a patriotic frenzy. From 34-year-old
Hemal Rajpopat, managing director of a Mumbai entertainment company,
who is obsessed with countering Pakistan propaganda on websites, to
23-year-old Shibani Mishra of Cuttack who donated her wedding
jewellery to the war effort, Kargil has become the people's war. From
yesterday's separatist to today's global citizen, the conflict has
forced a rediscovery of India. The jawans righting against heavy odds
in the inhospitable terrain have brought about a heady emotional
binding. The national feeling, which many assumed was lost in a sea
of chicanery, cynicism and disgust, has suddenly resurfaced. "It is a
tremendous feeling to be a part of this war," says the Assam
Regiment's Tinu Naga, 22, from Mongkolamba village in Nagaland, "You
are single-minded like never before."
Documenting this emotional upsurge is daunting. Al-most every
locality in the country has a touching story to tell. Of valour,
sacrifice and solidarity. INDIA TODAY correspondents travelled
through the country to record a small fraction of how the war is being
fought on the home front. Of how it has taken a war to make us
realise a basic truth-that we love India. Our India.
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