Palampur (Himachal Pradesh), April 30 (IANS): A day after BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi stirred up emotions in Himachal Pradesh by referring to Kargil hero Captain Vikram Batra, a martyr's family based here is completely apathetic towards political parties.
"We neither want to be part of politics nor do we want politics on the issues related to the martyrs," N.K. Kalia, father of the 1999 Kargil martyr Capt. Saurabh Kalia, said Wednesday.
During the election the political parties should not play a game of politics to strike an emotional chord, Kalia told IANS adding: "They (martyrs) should be remembered but not made part of politics."
Kalia, who retired as a senior scientist from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, said he was still relying on the Supreme Court verdict in the matter.
His plea in the court is to refer his son's torture to the International Court of Justice. The case is scheduled for hearing in the apex court in October.
For over 14 years, Kalia and his wife Vijaya Kalia have demanded justice for their son and five other soldiers whose mutilated bodies were handed over to the Indian authorities by Pakistan after weeks of gruesome torture.
Modi appealed to voters to ensure his party's victory in the Lok Sabha polls, but his use of Captain Batra's oft-quoted phrase "Yeh dil maange more" sparked a controversy with the martyr's parents and the Congress raising objections.
Modi later defended his use of the phrase at another rally, saying he would "rather leave politics than insult our martyrs and their parents".
Modi, at an election rally in Kangra district's Palampur, the hometown of Capt. Batra, said: "When we take the name of Maj. Somnath Sharma (the first recipient of the Param Vir Chakra, awarded posthumously for his bravery in the November 1947 Kashmir operations) and Vikram Batra, we feel proud. Our mind says 'yeh dil maange more'."
Captain Batra was awarded the Param Vir Chakra posthumously for his bravery in the Kargil war. He used "Yeh dil maange more" as a battle slogan, which became widely popular.
Modi's use of the slogan was disapproved of by the martyr's family, who said their son's sacrifice should not be politicised.
Captain Batra's septuagenarian father G.L. Batra, whose wife Kamal Kant is in the fray for the first time as an Aam Aadmi Party candidate from the Hamirpur seat, took strong offence to the use of the slogan for soliciting votes.
"The BJP is just trying to take credit in politics at this point in time by politically using the slogan of a martyr," Batra told IANS over phone from Hamirpur.