| This week we step our election coverage up another notch,
providing an incisive, nuts-and-bolts and comprehensive look at the mood in the Congress
and its strategy for the polls. We brought you the BJP in much the same way in our issue
last week, when we kicked off our election coverage. But beyond the common factor of
in-depth, exhaustive coverage for each of the arch-rivals, this is a story
about a 114-year-old party with a new president who has drawn applause and controversy
in equal measure since she assumed office in March 1998. It became clear after the general elections last year that had Sonia Gandhi
not stepped in to take control, the Congress in all likelihood would have disintegrated
into smaller parties. After her dramatic exit and equally dramatic re-entry as the
Congress president in May, there is little doubt she is the trump card for the party just
as the BJP is banking solely on A.B. Vajpayee. As much as the spin doctors would like to
fudge the issue, the battle lines are clearly drawn. Ultimately, it's about a
presidential-style fight between Vajpayee and Sonia. Senior Editor Sumit Mitra and Special
Correspondent Javed M. Ansari tracked Sonia and the Congress over weeks to bring exclusive
reports and analyses. Says Mitra: "It's make or break for Sonia and her party."
Besides these personalities, the main issue in this
election will be Kargil. The BJP is playing it as a grand victory, the Congress as a
failure of leadership. In between all this mudslinging there is a need to know the facts.
Undoubtedly, there was a massive failure of intelligence, which we recorded
comprehensively in a cover story early in the conflict ("Intelligence Failure:
Terrible Price", June 14). The country has already paid an extremely heavy price with
407 lives and 584 wounded. As in politics, there must be accountability for this terrible
toll. The questions are: could it have been averted? What went wrong? Who is responsible?
Only if politicians stop playing political football with the issue may we have half a
chance to know the whole truth.
We have begun by opening a 'Lest We Forget' fund for jawans
severely wounded in Kargil and have initially contributed Rs 10 lakh to the fund. We have
first selected 10 jawans who would require a major rehabilitation programme over an
extended period of time. And we intend to track and report their progress. Gradually we
hope to go further than Kargil and assist other such victims. Helping the Kargil wounded
is a small step. But every step counts.
(Aroon Purie) |
