I have always wondered what the English phrase “delusions of grandeur” meant. But if Imran Khan and his supporters can be credited with one thing it is that they have demonstrated this phrase to all of Pakistan. It seems that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) supporters are suffering from such incredible delusions of grandeur that they are ready to appropriate any form of resistance to the government or political class as of their own making. Sadly, they do not even bother to find out the circumstances before pronouncing their victories and making their tall claims.
Take, for example, the recent episode with respect to Maryam Nawaz. Social media was abuzz with the claim that the incident in which Maryam Nawaz’s request to have a maid upgraded to business class on a PIA flight to London was somehow or the other another challenge to Pakistan’s VIP culture. And news channels that have unfortunately become vehicles of the anti-political propaganda of the military establishment immediately jumped onto the bandwagon with respect to making similar claims. However, if any objective analysis of the event were made it would be abundantly clear that, in fact, this was a victory of VIP culture, not the opposite.
It was not the case that Maryam Nawaz was unwilling to pay for the upgraded seat. Those who travel frequently would already know such an upgrade is quite common in international flights where there are empty seats in business class. These upgrades are made on the basis of frequent flyer miles that are linked to credit cards. However, mainstream media has completely ignored the central fact that this was a request for an upgrade that was granted at first and then reversed when it was discovered that the person being upgraded belonged to the working class. Instead, the media has tried to paint the distorted view that Maryam Nawaz wished for her maid to sit on a seat that she had not paid for.
The sad reality is that in our class-conscious culture we are not ready to share our space with working people. And if a working class person comes and sits in what we euphemistically call “business class”, our upper classes are greatly angered by the mixing of the classes. These are supposed to be sacred spaces, the exclusive preserve of the business class, which is the bourgeois class. How can a working person be found sitting in business class?
And so, apparently, a senior bureaucrat, who refused to sit with a working class person in what is no doubt a class-divided plane reflective of a class-divided society, complained to the captain. The captain in turn gave solid proof of his ‘good upbringing’ by refusing to have a maid in the exclusive space of the bourgeoisie, which is business class. Hence, if anything, this entire incident shows that VIP culture, the class-conscious culture, is ingrained deeply in our society.
The irony though is not merely the fact of the existence of this VIP, class-conscious culture but the fact that the media and those who are claiming to be representatives of a new Pakistan did not see how deeply this entire incident reflects the old Pakistan that needs to be changed. Quite the contrary, the fact that they viewed this entire incident as a victory of new Pakistan is itself indicative of the conservative upper-class character of this very new Pakistan.
I do not want for a moment to defend in any way, shape or form the Sharif family. However, the issue of contention here is not really the Sharif family at all. The real issue is our refusal to share our space with working people. The fact that so many of the self-proclaimed representatives of new Pakistan could become completely oblivious to this blatant form of class discrimination shows to me that new Pakistan is either worse than present Pakistan or, at the very least, no better. I cannot but help come to the conclusion that the delusions of grandeur created by the slogan of a new Pakistan are as far from reality as the heavens from the earth.
The writer is an assistant professor of Political Science at LUMS, spokesperson for Laal (the band), and general secretary of the Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party (CMKP)