Dhiman started his career shortly after India became independent on the Bhakra-Nangal dam project, one of the world’s biggest straight gravity dams. At the time Jawaharlal Nehru had declared dams to be the temples of modern India and Dhiman was affected by that spirit of idealism as a young engineer. He worked on several government projects across the country. "I have always voted for the Congress, because I believe they are progressive and not dogmatic. If we as a nation have arrived this far it is in large part because of the success of those dreams and policies of Congress governments," he says.

His wife Shakti agrees, "I have always voted for the Congress, initially because of Indira Gandhi and now because they are better than the BJP."

The couple spends their retired life in a housing complex near Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. Their son lives in Australia while thier daughter is married and settled in Mumbai. The Dhimans divide their time these days between friends, phone calls, e-mail and photographs.

Dhiman says the boom in call centres or telecom and other positive developments in economy are not an overnight miracle of the National Democratic Alliance, as is being projected by the Vajpayee government. "If GE wants to hire 2,000 chartered accountants in India it is because we have an institution that produces such fine chartered accountants. Look at what is happening to the autonomy and competitiveness of our institutions," he says referring to the controversy surrounding the autonomy of the IIMs and other educational institutions. "[We cannot] let any government destroy these institutions. Don’t whip a running horse. If something is going well, don’t touch them."

"I don’t like the BJP because they are anti-modern, dragging us back to what Babar did or did not do. We can’t live in the past. After all these years, even autocracies like Burma are changing," says Dhiman.

He does not appreciate the overpublicity of this Lok Sabha election either. "I resent the policy of overkill. Leave me alone to do what I should do. Television advertisements and newspaper splashes are not enough for them so I get early morning recorded phone calls from Vajpayee." With this kind of overkill, he says, the real image of Vajpayee is also lost: "He is not half the size that he is being made out to be."

Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin is no great issue of concern to him. "She has been accepted as an Indian and given citizenship. She was the Opposition leader with Cabinet rank, so what is the big deal about it? She has led the party to at least two rounds of thumping electoral victories in state assemblies. Mind you, we are not in a presidential system. Even if she becomes the prime minister there would the Cabinet, an Opposition, Parliament, officials and others to guide and assist her. Why don’t we leave it to the people to decide, instead of carrying out such personal attacks against her?"

His wife agrees: "Most women in our society finds it disgusting that the BJP leadership is attacking a woman like this. It leaves a bad taste." She plans to vote for the Congress too. She would like to see India shining in a better way. "We should be a peaceful country that is good to everyone."

Dhiman says he doesn’t think that Vajpayee can rule this country as efficiently as the BJP alliance is trying to project. "When he cannot control his own baggage how can you rule this country? One cannot forget Gujarat so all arguments about it being just an aberration are unacceptable. People to this day haven’t forgotten the Nazi atrocities against Jews, and we do not forget what Israelis are doing to the Palestinians and what the US is doing in Iraq and elsewhere." For him what made the riots of Gujarat stand out was the fact that the leaders allowed the riots to go on for months. "Even the Sikh riots were controlled in three days," says Dhiman, who was born in Punjab.

The Dhimans spoke to Josy Joseph in Delhi

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