The audience found a sudden surge of patriotism rushing through their veins. The young scaled huge poles on their way back and removed banners and BJP flags, and carried them home as souvenirs. It also set off minor stampedes at the exit gates.

Unclaimed footwear and traffic snarl-ups in the aftermath told the story. The audience must have heard him before but never after the country had won a war. Never mind the nagging Election Commission, the Prime Minister was able to milk Kargil.

Surviving the security hassles, boring speeches and the overenthusiastic party workers, the crowd did not seem to mind the fact that he arrived exactly 75 minutes late.

``I have seen three wars involving India but never was victory as great as at Kargil,'' he said. He was even gripped by bouts of competitive patriotism, when he called the Opposition names for criticising his government for infiltration.

The Opposition was not happy, he said, because his government was doing extremely well on all fronts the economy, foreign exchange, agriculture, low inflation and conspired to bring it down. ``We lost by one vote, only one vote. A CM's vote dislodged a PM,'' he said drawing peals of laughter. ``The Opposition was jealous of our popularity'', he said, and gave the audience to believe that many votes could have been bought, but his party preferred to sacrifice the government instead of compromising on principles.

Pakistan had exploited the political instability and sent in infiltrators, he said in a bid to take the wind out of criticism that infiltration was caused by failure of intelligence agencies. A huge cheer rent the air when he said ``The country fought the aggression well, and united.''

His ``Jawans success stories and heroics will inspire generations'' was met with applause. ``The war is still not over. Pakistan is trying to destabilise us. ISI has stepped up its activities. RDX hauls are being made. We won't let them succeed.''

``I went to Lahore with a message of peace. They even sang my poem while welcoming me. While all this was on they were pushing through the infiltrators.'' In a way, he said, it had helped the country as it won international support. "When a Pakistani told me `Kasmhir me ke bina Pakistan adhura hai', I told him `Pakistan ke bina Hindustan adhura hai."'

Not once did he mention Sonia Gandhi and her foreign origins but flayed the Congress for its 50-year misrule, which he said, was behind all problems facing the country.