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BILAWAL Bhutto Zardari has the name; but does he have the game?
From his track record to date, it would seem that he lacks the fire in the belly — and the instinct for the jugular — that propelled his mother and grandfather to the top. But it’s early days, and I could easily be wrong. I hope I am.
I think it was Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s astute and ruthless spin doctor, who once said: “In every crisis lies an opportunity.” The problem is in spotting it, and then exploiting it to the hilt.
The crisis for the PPP obviously lies in the ongoing Rangers-led crackdown on its leadership and their bagmen in Sindh. It has prompted Khursheed Shah, the party’s leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, as well as its supremo Asif Zardari, to hurl threats and accusations at the prime minister.
In fact, Zardari has reportedly ordered party cadres to protest at the arrests that have taken place. But Zardari is no Altaf Hussain and the PPP is not the MQM, so don’t hold your breath waiting for the jiyalas to take to the streets.
The idea of party diehards risking arrest for Dr Asim Hussain, Zardari’s crony and alleged frontman, is laughable. The very fact that Zardari was ordering his troops into battle from the safety of London says it all.
In the national scheme of things, the PPP is irrelevant.
Arrest warrants have been issued for other party henchmen as well as senior civil servants in Sindh. Some have gone underground, while others have sought bail before arrest. Some of these people will sing like canaries, as Dr Asim Hussain is possibly doing now. Zardari no doubt fears that many fingers will be pointed in his direction; hence the vehemence of his recent statement.
This, then, is the crisis. So where’s the opportunity? Bilawal has the chance to announce that in view of the grave allegations against senior party members, he is taking over its leadership. He could invent some illness to explain his father’s absence from the scene and announce his retirement. This would absolve him of the charge of political patricide as well as regicide.
Obviously, many senior members would oppose this coup. So much the better for Bilawal who would be freed of the heavy burden of ‘uncles’ and ‘aunties’ who have allegedly been making hay while giving the PPP such an odious but richly deserved reputation for corruption and poor governance.
Readers who still nurse some goodwill for the PPP might think this solution will make things worse. But consider where the party now stands: on its current trajectory, it is utterly toxic and does not deserve to be elected to even run a village council.
In the national scheme of things, it is now irrelevant. Indeed, it now resembles the Old Man who got on Sinbad’s back, wound his legs around his neck, and clung there for days until the intrepid sailor tricked him into letting go.
Zia and one of his chief ministers did their worst to break the PPP in the 1980s. Many party members and supporters were jailed, tortured and lashed. But Benazir Bhutto rallied the party from house arrest, jail and exile. And many ordinary Pakistanis sympathised with its plight.
No longer. After years of accusations of corruption, supporters are too embarrassed by Zardari’s reputation to defend him or the party. The problem for many of them is that they have nowhere to go. With a liberal and secular outlook, most could not join another party. Those who have jumped ship recently to join the PML-N and PTI have done so because they think the PPP is now thoroughly unelectable.
But if Bilawal can summon up the courage to make a break with the tainted section of the party and renew its message, he will do not just the PPP, but the whole country a big favour. Currently, our two biggest parties are the PML-N and the PTI. Both are conservative, right-wing parties whose constituencies overlap. An embattled MQM, while secular, remains restricted to urban Sindh, and even here, its vote is being squeezed.
So clearly, there is a need for a progressive, centre-left party. Even though the PPP has been perverted over the last quarter century, it retains a name to reckon with. If it could be reinvented and reformed, it would still attract many who are fed up with the status quo. Currently, it is the PTI that is the party of protest with a charismatic leader at the helm.
But if Bilawal is capable of surprising us by seizing the moment, he could once again make the PPP relevant. I realise I am probably asking for too much. But our history is full of ambitious young men sidelining their fathers — or worse — to capture the crown.
So Bilawal has a stark choice for his party: indolence and irrelevance, or redemption and rebirth.
Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2015
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