Anupgarh is a small village halfway down that highway. Subedar Dharan Singh, who retired from the Army Supply Corps, works his fields here. He was posted at Bahadur Bridge in 1972-74 and his work took him all over Drass and Kargil. ``I was at Haji Pir in 1965,'' he adds. ``I remember how they treated the dead of the 8 Paras. They doused them in petrol, set them alight and kicked them off the lip of the slope. Their families got nothing, not even news of how they died. Now, the bodies come draped in the national colours. Compensation is sent in no time. No Prime Minister has ever cared this much for us.''

Singh is particularly peeved at the Congress. ``During the Bangladesh War, the furthest Mrs Gandhi got to was Calcutta. She went nowhere near the border, but Atal Behari Vajpayeeand George Fernandes have made it a point to visit frontline troops. They have gone to the limit and they look after their own.''

The sentiment is echoed in Roorkee, an even smaller village in Rohtak district, by Mahendri Hooda, also a farmer. When she lost her husband Subedar Ram Narain Hooda of the 4 Jat Regiment in Operation Pavan, the Government paid her Rs 2,000 in conscience money. Last week, her son Rajesh Hooda, also of the 4 Jat, returned home from Kargil, his femur and knee smashed by a machine-gun round. He was on the patrol that went in search of Saurabh Kalia.

``When my husband was killed, I was expected to raise three children on Rs 2,000,'' she says. ``For Rajesh, the Government is giving Rs 4.5 lakh. The Red Cross has given another Rs 25,000. I have permission to open a PDS shop and I hear that I can also get a franchise from Coke or Pepsi. And the people of the village presented us with a chariot of pure silver.''

For Mahendri Hooda, Kargil is an obvious element of the campaign. ``TheBJP earned it and they have the right to use it. They have to come back to power, or none of us will see any of the money.''

The Indian National Lok Dal has magnanimously given all credit for the jawans' welfare package to Vajpayee. As Ajay Singh Chautala's (the CM's son) party workers say in Bhiwani, ``You have to give precedence to the head of the biradari''.

But the people are appreciative of Om Prakash Chautala's contribution. The Chief Minister doubled the compensation to the families of the dead from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. Devi Lal pitched in with another Rs 2 lakh. Chautala went personally to the homes of all the dead. His father sent hand-written letters to their families. The state government brought all the families together for a memorial service in Rohtak. These gestures will not be forgotten at the polling booth.

Kargil is a talking point even in villages which don't send their men to the Army. People are as impressed as Clinton by Vajpayee's restraint and the vote has swung in the BJP'sfavour. In Lahli village of Bhiwani district, Raj Kumar, a landed farmer, feels that national security has no place in an election campaign. ``Vajpayee's maturity was quite enough. He is the Tatshri of the Mahabharata.''

The conflict is not an issue only for the very poor. People like Rao Sunderpur, a charcoal-burner in Rohtak district right out of the pages of Kipling. ``I work all day to make less than Rs 1,800 a month. Kargil -- well, it happened. I have problems of my own.''