Daily Times

Let’s get a few facts right, please. It’s everybody’s right to have an opinion about things; especially the things that affect this country and the people that live in it. But something has to be said about the tendency of our ruling elite to muddy debates on crucial matters by indulging in personal attacks and then egging on an army of so-called social media warriors who can count nothing bigger in terms of their contribution to the country than ridiculing people whose contribution might be bigger than their own.

A lot of fuss has been made about the bag I wore to the protest against inflation the other day. And while I respect people’s opinions, just like they must respect others’, perhaps someone can answer a few important questions for the benefit of everybody. Granted, people that are hurt the most by inflation cannot even afford most necessities of life, let alone luxuries. But if I had taken another bag, or not been in a position to afford that particular Chanel bag, would inflation have come down and people’s lives improved just because of my actions? Does every politician, especially in government, cut his or her expenses whenever prices get too high for common people.

The prime minister, whose spokespersons specialise in answering with personal insults whenever they are put questions about policy, ordered the PM House’s cattle to be sold when he took over, but did he do something about the mansion that he resides in? And even if he had abandoned his palatial estate just because essential items had become so expensive for people under his watch, would that have done anything about persistent high inflation in this country.

Inflation is an economic reality that cuts into the incomes of people and those with small disposable incomes naturally suffer the most.

Should politics be open only to people whose own legitimate incomes do not allow them to afford anything more expensive than what people at the very bottom of the food chain have. How many of the PM’s many ministers and special advisors, who are millionaires many times over, stopped driving their SUVs and threw away the family silver because ordinary Pakistanis can never afford such things; especially under their watch? And who’s forgotten how the Punjab government was literally cobbled together in the personal jet of one of the richest people in this country, just for PIT. Did those politicians, who later became MPAs and MNAs allied with the ruling party, take those jet rides because they were offered to reduce themselves to the financial status of the poorest people in this country.

These are difficult questions but at their heart is one very simple phenomenon. Inflation is an economic reality that cuts into the incomes of people and those with small disposable incomes naturally suffer the most. That is why it is called the most unfair of all taxes. In our case, the problem is much worse because we do not have demand-pull inflation, which, if anything, reflects a fast-growing and expanding economy. Ours is the cost-push variety of inflation, which means supply chain bottlenecks and the “mafias” that the PM himself mentioned time and time again are responsible for it (yet, nothing was done about them). Perhaps, if they had concentrated more on the real looters and plunderers instead of deploying an army of yes-men with the single purpose of observing people’s clothes and accessories, things might have been a little bit better for those that can never even think of such things.

So, once again, should only people who are affected very badly by inflation be allowed to enter politics? And what about people who, for one reason or the other, have better education and higher income than the poorest of the poor? Should they all be dubbed traitors and hypocrites and kept away from public office.

My life and lifestyle were very well known to everybody even before I entered politics. And, just like the present PM used to say all the years that he was in opposition, I too did not have to do this but felt forced to because I feel it is incumbent upon all of us to raise our voices for the lesser privileged. That is why my experience as a member of the provincial assembly speaks for itself considering the legislation and bills I have tabled in the House; regardless of the bags I was carrying and the shoes I was wearing. Isn’t that a bigger contribution to the country, especially its poor people whose lives are made miserable by inflation, than those who can do no better than spew venom on others just because they are on the other side of the political divide.

The writer is a LUMS graduate and currently serves as PMLN MPA. She is a close aide of Maryam Nawaz and tweets at @hinaparvezbutt