Rhetoric on emotional steroids
Happy New Year! Almost ten years ago, in August 2002, I published an article, Reverse Swing, during a period of upsurge in Imran Khan’s political fortunes, prior to the ill-fated Musharraf referendum.
It read, “Imran, today, exhibits the evolution from celebrity cricketer to mature politician. It has taken time but now, more than ever, the reverse swing is in full flow, the line and length is impeccable and he is working up a pretty lively pace. It’s visible in his body language and the message is strong. Imran Khan is on song!
Unfettered by the disadvantages facing other political parties in respect of registration formalities and disqualifications, he is on the move with his country-wide campaign swinging from North to South, and back again, with results fast becoming visible. He is hitting the deck hard and the “toe breakers”, too, are beginning to land. He is yorking the government for its blunders but at the same time supporting the original Musharraf agenda. Most important is that he has decided to go it alone and not join the “icons of corruption”. As he stands for transparent government and good governance, it is apparent that he shuns the expediency, garbed as pragmatism, prevalent today. The issues he is raising have root in the masses and the vote bank targeted is the wealth of young, newly enlisted voters. An astute stance, indeed!”
A lot of this is true even today, in fact most of it. But the “most important” part of that time is now, sadly, in reverse. Imran, it appears, has succumbed to “the expediency, garbed as pragmatism” prevalent then, as it is today. In his own words, “icons of corruption” that he castigated then are, slowly but surely, wending their way to his party’s watering hole. His defence, a pragmatic one, is the dearth of electable candidates and ‘kiya mein farishteh laoonga’ (will I find angels).
This is more than a matter of record; it also serves as a glaring reminder to the electorate that time and events change the thinking process of leaders. More often than not, crafty handlers cleverly conceal this. In fact, it is why the more brilliant among us always counselled refrain from saying too much, or even speaking too much, because one ends up exposing oneself to the undoable.
The biggest problem facing Pakistan’s growth, aside from the disastrous implications of war, is the inability of the population to realise where we are at, supported by the incessant rhetoric of politicians to promote hope minus the material or mental resources to provide actual relief. Empty vessels have consumed our horizon for decades; not one has really delivered. Nothing on ground today indicates a positive time frame for fulfilling the peoples’ manifesto.
An analyst expressed the other day that Imran can galvanise public opinion towards fulfilment of the peoples’ civic and allied responsibilities. It’s great to have one’s convictions but to convince the nation that a non-economic manager can galvanise an unruly population to subject itself to responsible behaviour is a joke. What we are seeing is a typical Pakistani phenomenon. Euphoria and entertainment while ignoring ground realities. Let Imran tell them of the taxes he needs to collect and see the euphoria fritter.
My argument is find me a leader who can retain popularity and yet get the people to meet their simple civic obligations. To our population rational is for the birds. They believe solely in personal needs. Perhaps this is not wrong, but they unfortunately do not want to contribute towards it. Emotional reactions have delivered momentarily relief but at the same time have taken us away from permanent solutions. The truth is that Pakistan’s limited developed resources have been consistently stretched to subsidise our lives.
Every politician shouts hoarse that he can do better without saying exactly how. The answer lies in seeking and obtaining from the electorate sufficient time to enable the natural endowments and resources to develop and provide the means to make Pakistan a true welfare state. This requires patience, good governance and, last but not least, sacrifices. A knee jerk reaction to emotional outbursts and resultant deviations from the projected path leads to disaster. The state of our economy is living proof.
Tragically there is no evidence of the healer reforming himself. The cost of managing equitable distribution of free fuel to small farmers is itself prohibitive. Governments have played this tune to its death. PKR 145 billion has been allocated to this government’s BISP; is it having an effect on the economy? The power subsidy has cost the government three trillion. Imagine the benefits if these amounts were made available for real growth.
Creating more provinces means more expenditure on governments within the scarce resource base. We already have six provincial and one central government to fund. The people emotionally being led to the precipice foolishly believe they will benefit. Provide evidence please. This is political wrangling and we all know it has one goal. Will we be lead blindly yet again?
One can argue endlessly. The essence of success lies in managing expectations to fit the resources. Otherwise we will continue to swing in reverse, upside down. Our fate sealed by our emotions.
The writer may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected]
