The PPP’s dilemmas

As the PPP looks to regain its erstwhile glory, it is faced with two dilemmas. One centres on the party’s supreme leader Asif Zardari; the other pertains to positioning itself in the present political milieu. Zardari has earned for himself the reputation of someone for whom ends justify means.

The PPP’s victory in the general elections a few months after Benazir Bhutto’s death made Zardari the country’s most powerful political player. Just when he was being compared to India’s Sonia Gandhi for being magnanimous enough not to hold any position in the government, he shook the entire nation by announcing he would run for the office of the president in August 2008.

Thenceforth, whether it was reinstatement of the deposed members of the superior judiciary, having his enormous presidential powers clipped vide the 18th Amendment to the constitution or making détente with the PML-Q – once termed Qatil League by none other than Zardari himself – Zardari demonstrated a knack of taking his friends and foes by surprise. To top it all, despite all predictions of their premature exit, he and his party remained at the helm for full five years having seen through one crisis after another.

But the same Zardari, whose ability to outsmart his rivals was widely regarded as unparalleled, saw his party swept aside in 2013 polls. To many, the PPP’s electoral rout was the biggest surprise that Zardari has ever sprung up. To others, in view of the PPP government’s dismal performance, its defeat was always on the cards. At any rate, by the time the PPP government had completed its term, it had come a long way from being a party of the masses to that of the elite.

It is beyond a shadow of doubt that in the entire PPP no one comes close to Zardari in political craftsmanship. Zardari’s manoeuvring skills can come handy only when the party commands a critical mass of popular support. At this juncture, the PPP needs a popular and credible face, one that can help it achieve that critical mass. Zardari’s son Bilawal Bhutto was launched in politics for that very reason. It seems to be a fairly good arrangement: the son representing the popular face of the party and the father pulling the strings from behind.

But there is one little problem: no matter how much effort Bilawal may put in to shake up the party and play to the gallery, as long as Zardari remains at the helm, the PPP’s image will not be repaired. Zardari knows this and so does the party. So far the PPP has ducked the question but sooner or later it will have to make up its mind on Zardari’s role. 

Now the second dilemma. Under the late prime minister Benazir Bhutto, the PPP had undergone three cardinal changes: one, the economic philosophy of socialism was discarded in favour of market economy and nationalisation was replaced with privatisation. It was the first Benazir government that in 1990 had started the country’s privatisation programme.

Two, the PPP shunned its anti-Americanism. Ms Bhutto, whether of her on accord or under duress, continued with the pro-Washington policies of her predecessor, the late Ziaul Haq. Three, the party abandoned its anti-establishment posture. Whether the establishment accepted the PPP with an open heart is anybody’s guess.

To some, those changes were necessary for the party to survive and thrive in a hostile environment; to others they sapped the strength and appeal of the party and turned it into yet another pro-status quo organisation. However those changes may be looked upon, they were based on the late prime minister’s perception of the contemporary social forces. By the time Ms Bhutto had returned to Pakistan in 1986, Washington’s influence on Pakistan had become so pervasive that a party opposed to American interests had little chance of making it to the saddle.

Earlier, experience had taught her that entry into and exit from the corridors of power in Islamabad was largely a matter of being in the mighty establishment’s good books or bad books. The end of the 1980s also saw the eclipse of socialism in the world and the triumph of neo-liberalism or market economy.

The foremost question that Ms Bhutto’s son Bilawal faces today is whether he should make any major changes to the PPP’s policies and positioning or persist with the legacy of his mother. In either case, the answer will depend on his understanding of the social forces at work.

In the present era, market economy has established itself as the paramount economic doctrine and, barring a few exceptions, the only form of economic organisation all over the world. In Pakistan as well, none of the mainstream political parties is in favour of discarding the market philosophy. Therefore, the PPP’s return to the alternate economic system – socialism – is virtually out of the question, although Bilawal may continue to fiddle with his grandfather’s historic slogan, ‘roti, kapra aur makaan’ (food, clothing and shelter).

Of course, the PPP can work to make the market economy less unbearable for a large section of society by calling, for instance, for protection of labour rights, security of jobs and greater pro-poor public expenditure. Already, the PPP has opposed tooth and nail the planned privatisation of public-sector enterprises, such as the national air carrier.

But if the party continues on the same old path, it may be difficult for it to erase the impression, and by implication revive its fortune, that it is a party of the status quo. In that event, its only hope, particularly in Punjab, will be to capture anti-Nawaz Sharif vote.

The writer is a freelance contributor.

Email: hussainhzaidi@gmail.com