Daily Times

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has started to prepare for the elections next year. The party’s co-Chairperson Asif Zardari declared recently that the PPP was still popular and could not be written off. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the party’s chairperson, has also been touring the country and vowing to reclaim all lost glory. Notwithstanding these grand statements, the PPP faces the greatest crisis since its inception in 1968. Its leadership refuses to acknowledge that there may be a serious problem with the party. Not unlike the Indian National Congress, the PPP – a dynastic brand – has lost its appeal for its core constituency: the poor, downtrodden and the liberal intelligentsia. And both parties remain in a state of denial.

Since Asif Ali Zardari took over the party reins after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the relationship between party cadres and the leader has suffered. Zardari – and to some extent Bilawal – faced unprecedented security threats. But that’s not the only reason for the distance. Zardari’s brand of politics entails gerrymandering the political landscape at the cost of real mobilisation at the grassroots level. The PPP’s historical socialist agenda has disappeared too. For the poor, this is just another party.

The situation could have been salvaged had the party given due attention to holding intra-party elections, re-organising the cadres and appointing dynamic provincial leaders. Centralisation in political parties is not just limited to the PPP. But for the latter, reconnecting with party workers after the 2013 election debacle was an urgent priority. Bilawal has tried to revive the party but it is unclear how much authority he wields in the presence of an overarching father.

The absence of strong local leaders and dwindling party structure are not going to help the PPP’s cause in the 2018 elections. The allegations of corruption against its leadership – especially the two Prime Ministers during the 2008-2013 tenure – are still fresh in the public memory. Admittedly, the media on balance displays a bias but the party has not helped the situation either. The provincial governance of Sindh was an opportunity for the party to restore its image. It’s efforts to rebuild that have been sketchy and largely ineffective.

The PPP’s lost fortunes in Punjab are not going to reappear through fiery speeches and re-invoking the sacrifices of the Bhutto family. There has been a generational shift in the voters’ structure. Furthermore, what is the agenda of the party to bring social change? How does it differ from other political groupings such as the PML-N and PTI? If the PPP leadership is serious about making a comeback, it needs to undertake a serious, honest reflection of its past mistakes and think of a new party programme that responds to the aspirations of young men and women of this country. *