Has there been any inquiry into the lasting impact of Kargil on the Indian psyche?
Nandy: No. First of all, the jingoism that you saw was primarily that of the middle class. And this was reflected in the newspapers and the media. I am sure other Indians were patriotic, but their voices were not frequently heard. In any case, Kargil was one of the many problems for them. They have other problems–of surviving. So as a result, the Kargil episode did not leave that much of an imprint on the way people voted, or the positions they took on political issues close to their heart. When the regime itself did not gain as much benefit, as much political mileage, as it thought it would from conflict, naturally the interest gradually declined. The politicians were less inclined to stoke chauvinism and the media also became less enthusiastic about projecting an issue on which there seemed to be at least a full consensus in the middle class. So I guess that the tremendous hoo-ha that was generated in the wake of the conflict has now become a somewhat distant memory. TIME: And yet w
