“My thoughts by night are often filled
with visions false as fair:
For in the past alone, I build
my castles in the air” — Thomas Love Peacock.
All governments that have remained in power in this country have been afflicted with the same disease: ‘air-conditioned ignorance’. The present government is no exception. If we go back in history, the first two years of the government of Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was perhaps the only example of a government that was aware of the problems of the people and made honest efforts to resolve them within available resources. After that there has been a consistent trend that has widened the gap between the incumbent governments and the people of this country.
Today, as the political atmosphere is heating up in preparation for the coming elections, the biggest political party of the country, the PPP, seems to be losing touch not only with a vast number of the electorate but also with those who still want to support them. For example, in Punjab, there is no proper office for this party; a small building that has been obtained by the party has no record about party affairs and is not manned by any proper staff where the workers can go and seek guidance or redress for their problems from the party leadership. Even when the PML-N and Tehreek-e-Insaf locked horns to dominate the politics of Lahore, the PPP not only remained on the sidelines but some of its leaders tried to convey the erroneous impression to the top hierarchy of the party that their vote bank would remain intact and that the entry of Imran Khan would only damage the prospects of the PML-N. This is not the truth because if the party wants to make an honest assessment of ground realities they will be in for a rude shock in several parts of the city, which used to have a sizeable number of PPP supporters. The situation has dramatically changed and party cadres mince no words when they talk about being neglected and leaderless.
The recent decision to divide Punjab province into two parts so that the party can be organised more efficiently will not work unless some dramatic effort is put in by those who are enjoying the ‘fruits’ of the government, otherwise there will be no hope for improving support for the party. Even those who were elected to the national or provincial assemblies were protesting about the lack of development in their constituencies — what to talk about those who lost in the last general elections.
Another factor that has contributed to the decline in support for the party remains poor management of the media, which has resulted in the rapid erosion of support for the party. The episode that was witnessed the other day in the National Assembly, where a minister complained that her subordinates were not attentively listening to her, laid bare immature and amateur dealings, which could have been handled productively if differences had been sorted out in a more discreet manner. The subordinate in question was the MD of PTV who, according to some, was engaged in useful work. These contradictions do not help the cause of the PPP. The situation is no better in several other departments where ministers and the administrative machinery under them are not singing in harmony and are often seen quarrelling with one another. Stories of corruption and mismanagement appear on a daily basis and no effort is made by the concerned authorities to strongly rebut them, creating an erroneous impression amongst the people, as if all that appears in the print media or on television screens is absolutely correct.
However, the basic problem remains lack of attention towards party affairs and if quick measures are not put in place and the party does not start functioning in real earnest, all talk about the vote bank of the PPP being intact will evaporate into thin air.
Already one can hear rumblings within some ranking party members who are seriously considering switching sides; those who think that leaving the PPP is a sure sign of political doom may very soon be forced to reassess their thinking because, this time round, it will not be the people who leave the party who will suffer — damage may be inflicted on the party itself. One wonders if, at this late stage, any serious thinking is going on amongst the people who matter in the PPP about paying some serious attention to party work or whether they have been made to believe that all is well within the party.
Unfortunately, at present, except for the Bhutto family, the president and a few others, there is no one who can even claim to be a good second string leader within the party, what to talk about charisma. This may seem to be a pessimistic approach but for those like myself who remain captive due to their love and affection for the founding father of the party, Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, frustration has reached its climax and that is not without good reason.
The purpose of this piece remains to give a wake up call to the top leadership of the PPP who must make visible efforts not only to reorganise the party but also establish proper offices to ensure that the PPP is working like any other political party in the world. A small survey conducted by this scribe was so alarming that even workers like Mr Israr, who is well known around the country for his close attachment with Mr Bhutto and is now 78 years old, had to say that in the next general elections he would stay at home and not vote for the PPP. For other workers, it was not the same because they vowed to vote against the party that they had being supporting for the last 20 to 25 years. These voices require attention because if they are ignored, the PPP will have to suffer during the next elections. One can only hope that immediate attention and succour is provided not only to the problems faced by the party workers but that plans are put in place to alleviate the sufferings of the poor in the country. This is the only hope if the party wants to thrive and survive in the country.
The writer is a freelance journalist. He can be reached at [email protected]