Is the young one up to the task?
Bilawal has been prematurely thrust into the frontline politics by two circumstances: the death of Benazir in 2007 and the sudden illness of Zardari this week. The PPP’s peculiar culture which requires a Bhutto as top leader to command everyone’s loyalty is also responsible for burdening a 23-year old novice with responsibilities that require skills that he has yet to develop and a political maturity that he has yet to display.
Since Benazir’s departure, tasks have been set for Bilawal by Asif Ali Zardari. At times, he showed reluctance to comply but mostly accepted the role he was required to play. He was appointed the chairman of the PPP at the age of 19 while he was still an undergraduate at Oxford.
Bilawal declined to attend the meeting addressed by Zardari in Birmingham in 2010 to introduce Bilawal. When in July this year, Zardari announced that his son would be Lyari’s future MNA, Bilawal was quick to tweet that he did not plan to contest in the next elections.
Two months earlier, when Hakim Ali Zardari died, Bilawal was declared by his father to be the next chief of the Zardari tribe in his place. Interestingly the dastar bandi did not take place. Was it due to reluctance shown by Bilawal who did not want to be involved in the rigmarole?
The biggest handicap Bilawal suffers from is that he did not have the opportunity to pass through a period of apprenticeship. He had no time to reveal his strong points. His drawbacks are well-known. Unlike Benazir who had had all her pre-graduation education in Pakistan, Bilawal has had his entire education abroad. While he is required to lead a major mainstream party, he speaks no Pakistani language and thus cannot communicate with the masses. He has seen no local school, hospital, village or slum and thus his knowledge of the conditions prevailing on ground in this country is second hand.
Bilawal’s public exposure is limited. As compared to him, Rahul Gandhi, a scion of the Ganhi family, has gone through the rough and tumble of politics for seven years. Despite the Congress being in power, he preferred working at the grassroots level rather than aspire for a cabinet post. With Begum Bhutto as party chair person, even Benazir had a period of hard apprenticeship, partly spent in detention. Bilawal’s exposure consists of a few close door meetings like the one in August 2009 when he addressed some two score party workers in Islamabad. He spoke three sentences in Anglicised Urdu and then rattled off a declamation in English, recounting the sacrifices rendered by his mother, maternal grandfather and even his father who he said had spent years in jail as he refused to support a dictator.
Bilawal has inherited a rich legacy. To retain the legacy, however, he has to prove that he really deserves it. In case of Zardari remaining active, Bilawal will have time to learn the ropes. He can develop a first hand knowledge of the realities faced by Pakistanis that he has so far only read about, and develop a better understanding of his own party, its allies and opponents. The task will be daunting in case the ailing co-chairman was to fade out of the political scene at this stage.
In Zardari’s absence, Bilawal will be called upon to resolve the internal differences within the party ranks. With some of the party dissidents in Sindh strongly opposing the alliance with the MQM and threatening to gherao the Provincial Assembly if concessions were given to it over the local bodies issue, the PPP faces an unprecedented challenge from its traditional stronghold.
Bilawal will have to ensure that the party remains united. A highly divisive issue he would be required to settle is the awarding of party tickets for the Senate elections due in March. As different lobbies in the PPP would have different favourites, the final decision will finally have to be made by the party chairman. Soon after, the party will have to settle the issue of the candidates it has to launch in the next general elections for the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies.
Bilawal will be the youngest leader in his party. He will be surrounded by party veterans with decades of parliamentary experience. For a while, the Bhutto legacy will help him but after a while he will be judged by his ability to command the party. The PPP culture requires the party chairman to be the chief executive also. Gilani was asked during a PTV programme last week whether he would be the PPP’s prime ministerial candidate in the presence of Bilawal in the 2013 election. “It is up to the party… our Chairman should be the Prime Minister and I am with him,” he replied uneasily.
Or will Bilawal show the dissident streak in him and try to change the culture? He could empower the party organisation, bringing the decision making bodies of the party out of the shadow of the chairman. Bilawal with his limited experience and untested clout provides the PPP a chance to develop party institutions with a democratic working. This will be a healthy development.
The writer is a former academic and a political analyst.