Dynastic
politics
In an interview
with BBC TV’s Hardtalk the other day, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari attempted to put
the dynastic politics of the PPP down to ‘circumstances’ rather than choice. He
argued that the death of his grandfather, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and later his
mother Benazir Bhutto, had thrust first her and then him into leadership of the
party. Barely three days after Benazir’s death, the Central Executive Committee
of the PPP asked him to take charge. When asked if the PPP was only a Bhutto
party, he declined to go into the merits and demerits of dynastic politics
while conceding that although the phenomenon had no place in modern
democracies, it was a reality in Pakistan. However, he asserted, the PPP stood
for a democratic, socially just and modern Pakistan. When asked whether Asif
Zardari or he was in charge, he said decisions were taken by consensus by the
party’s higher echelons and no one person was in charge. When interrogated
about whether the PPP had forgotten its ideology, Bilawal dissembled by
asserting that the party was committed to democracy and had maintained its
roots. He revealed that his grandfather’s slogan of roti, kapra aur makaan (bread, clothing and housing) would again be
the leitmotif of the party in the forthcoming elections. He blamed the
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for the party’s debacle in the 2013 elections,
arguing that while the TTP openly warned the party would not be allowed to
campaign, they threatened and kidnapped candidates and a former prime minister
and late Governor’s sons. On the other hand the TTP called the PML-N, PTI and
JI their ‘allies’ and gave them a free hand. Anti-democratic elements too,
including former Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry, prevented the party
from campaigning. When quizzed about the corruption charges against Asif
Zardari, Bilawal pointed out that his father had spent 11 years in prison
without a conviction. He also asserted that each and every case against his parents
had been fought out and they were acquitted after a struggle of over 30 years.
The interviewer tried to interject with the assertion that Imran Khan continued
to accuse Zardari of corruption and he was not a man who lied. On the contrary,
Bilawal shot back, he does lie and this is by now a matter of record. He went
on to reiterate that Musharraf was involved in Benazir’s murder, but justice
had still not been delivered 10 years after that tragic event. Pakistan, he
reminded, had a history of military dictators assassinating PPP leaders and
members. The UN investigation into Benazir’s assassination at Asif Zardari’s
appeal had come to the same conclusion, despite the fact that PPP ministers
refused to record their statements to the UN investigators, which Bilawal
admitted was the fault of the party. He also reminded that Musharraf was under
trial for treason.
While Bilawal’s
remarks contain more than a grain of truth and must be appreciated for their
candour, it is what he did not say that acquires more weight as a result. The
PPP is today a pale shadow of a once mighty party, restricted largely to Sindh
because it has abandoned its original élan and ideology of a radical left wing
programme. When Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged, Benazir changed tack and
embraced the fashionable neo-liberal paradigm of the time, thereby
disillusioning the party’s committed cadre, especially in Punjab. That is
perhaps the most significant factor in the decline of the party in its
erstwhile stronghold. The fact also is that the PPP, much like other parties in
Pakistan, hardly has the kind of internal democracy that could allow people
other than the Bhuttos to climb up through the ranks on merit (the case of the
PML-N and ANP is similar). But this phenomenon of dynastic politics is not
confined to Pakistan alone but rife throughout South Asia. The dynastic
politics on display now and in the past in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka
proves the point. This South Asian phenomenon is perhaps rooted in our social
ethos, which regards all kinds of legacies, material, political and social, as
the rightful heritage of heirs alone. While many in Pakistan reside high hopes in
Bilawal rescuing the PPP from the slough of despond it seems trapped in, the
factor of the father’s shadow remains a dampener to the hopes of a fresh
beginning.
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