Three phases of polling are over. Two phases remain. People are fatigued. "Will there be another poll next year?" they ask nervously.
Vajpayee made a bus journey to Lahore. It seemed that India and Pakistan could actually make up. Over three decades of Chinese investment to keep both countries apart would have gone waste. The balance of power in Asia and the world would have changed. That was unacceptable.
After Vajpayee returned from Lahore, India's Gang of four emerged. Defying reason and ideology, Surjeet, Sonia Gandhi, Jayalalitha and Subramanian Swamy teamed up to launch operation topple. They risked their personal interests while doing this. The government was toppled by one vote.
But plans went awry. Sonia Gandhi, whom Chinese premier Li Peng met during his visit to India, failed to form the government. Vajpayee's government continued as caretaker. The poll scene became bad for the Congress.
Then the kargil card was played. Prospects of friendship between India and Pakistan would be forever buried. China made neutral noises during the conflicts. India's experts were elated. "China is neutral," they chorused. "What a great diplomatic victory!"
Foreign minister Jaswant Singh visited Beijing to pay obeisance. This column, on the stands on June 28, detailed the joy of these babes in the wood. It said Kargil was inspired by the Chinese Dragon.
Now the truth is out. Not only did Osama Bin Laden help the Kargil terrorists. Newspapers confirm that Chinese troops crossed into Ladakh on July 1 to draw Indian attention from beleaguered Pakistan. At the height of the Kargil fighting, Chinese army officials were in Skardu, monitoring supplies to the Pakistan soldiers at the front.
These elections will end. This issue will remain. Having failed in Kargil, China will now try settling with India on its own terms before India can befriend Pakistan. That would make it the Big Brother friendly to the two mutually-hostile neighbours. Already, media pundits and Congress leaders, who behaved as Nehru's lap-dogs when he lived, are blaming him for India's dispute with China. Already, prime minister Vajpayes's is talking about an impending settlement with China.
Let politicians choose carefully their priorities on China and Pakistan. This unspoken issue caused this election. It will cause the next.
India will break
Without world sature!
This is the stake,
It's the law of nature!