It is almost a political blasphemy. To compare names like Mandela and Gandhi to our prime minister (PM) is comically tragic. We all owe an apology to these great men who stood for principle as defined by accepted laws, and not by their own completely unjustified interpretation of a verdict of a court. As the newly appointed political secretary of the PM, in a hurry to prove his loyalty, said that if he is a convict so were the great people I named earlier. This is a sure sign of a leader surrounded by people who will keep him in the fallacy of wearing the emperor’s clothes until he finds himself in a fool’s paradise.
The story of the emperor who was obsessed with wearing a new outfit every day and whose obsession made him blind to the reality is so apt for all leaders whose downfall is protected by people too busy saying things that will please their bosses rather than the truth. In the story, the two clever weavers come to the emperor and tell him they are going to be making an outfit for him that is magical and can only be seen by the intelligent and the brilliant. The emperor pays a lot of money to them to start working. Aitzaz Ahsan’s rhetoric of protecting and justifying the contempt of court seems to be exactly what the weavers told the emperor: that only intelligent people could see that they are protecting the constitution. The emperor sent many people to see the clothes being made and they could not see anything being prepared, but in order not to look stupid, they returned singing false praises. People like Rehman Malik and Fuad Chaudhry, who keep assuring the prime minister how great his act of defying the courts is, play this role.
The contempt of court case is significant in many ways. It has confirmed some facts we were aware of already. That the prime minister and the top leadership of PPP have lived so far and deep in their own definition of right and wrong that no universal standards and laws can really convince them otherwise. That they are surrounded by people who are considered loyal to them but whose loyalty remains to their own retention of position. That this government has become so oblivious to the consequences of such false existence that they are also overestimating their own ability to live the charade, underestimating the ability of the public to see through the charade.
While people are aghast at this nonchalant attitude towards the contempt of court ruling, the PM is busy planning his visit to the UK. The entourage comprises so far 70 people, including some from the coalition parties, who will be given this all expenses paid trip to keep chanting about the ‘heroic fight’ of the PM, comparing him with historic figures of the highest level. Some officials are also being accompanied by their families, but some will come separately on government, or to put it correctly, on public expense as the government does not want the scandal to get too scandalous.
Thus, the concept of creating loyalty in government ranks is not by inspiring personal examples but by buying and pricing each affirmation action by their so-called ‘loyalists’. Sometimes, it is by giving positions to those who defy the law and logic in favour of the bosses. Those who do not conform lose their positions, such as Babar Awan, who refused to appear in the prime minister’s contempt of court case and has now been removed as a senior vice president of the party and finance secretary from the CEC of the party. That is the reason the people close to you will only tell you what you want to hear, as in the emperor’s story.
The problem with such an approach is that you stay on the track to failure, as nobody is guiding you on the mistakes you are making. Thus each mistake is repeated so many times that it becomes an irreversible path to eventual disaster. The hallmark of all great leaders has been that they would be doing a self-analysis of their own shortcomings and limitations. For that purpose, they would always have devil’s advocates in their teams who would show them the other side of the picture as well. This feedback of reality is extremely important. However, in our country, any report or survey that is contrary to what the leaders want to see and believe is rejected as being total nonsense and the organisations are threatened and discredited. Transparency International is a prime example of having suffered at the hands of successive governments because they published true figures of the governments’ corruption.
The simple understanding is that those who do not care about you would never be truthful to you. They are exploiting and enhancing weaknesses by encouraging you to do more of them. The prime minister, unfortunately, has been glorified by the president and their colleagues as a victim and as a hero who is fighting a lone battle of courage. They keep on telling him that he is wearing the best heroic attire in the world and applaud each false step he takes. The danger is that in this world of imagination, he may make such a fool of himself that like the emperor, who in his make believe world walked out just wearing an underwear, the prime minister may walk out of his position stripped of all self-respect and credibility. As they say, you only see what you want to see, and if all they want to see are a few loyalists showering rose petals on you, then these very petals may become remnants of your political obituary.
The writer is an analyst, consultant and information Secretary of PTI Punjab and can be reached at [email protected]