A monumental task
Leaving aside the debate whether it is democratic to have leaders at the helm of political parties that are placed there because of the surname they carry, Bilawal is reportedly back within the party fold. Where does Bilawal go from here?
It is well known that there exists an in-party divide. Many who were close to the late Benazir Bhutto feel sidelined. The greatest strength of Bilawal is not any contribution he may have made towards cadres within the party or towards the country, but the surname he carries. The charismatic name of Bhutto. “Bhuttoism was the only soul of Bilawal’s speech where he vows to keep it alive probably because it is the only reason that can keep him politically active,” says a blog post from Chowrangi on his political debut in Karachi. (October 20, 2014) However, is that enough? For Bilawal, set to start his political life, it is not enough. The party he takes over today is a different party that his mother took over from his grandfather. When Benazir Bhutto took over the reins of the party, PPP had an ideological base, it boasted of many stalwarts who were giants among pygmies. Bhutto herself was a strong woman, a strength Bilawal has yet to display. Further PPP is a party with clear stance towards terrorism, extremism and rights of women, yet today it stands marginalised as a party of rural Sind only. Bilawal must understand the reasons for this comedown first if he wants to turn it around.
First, many of the old guard feel themselves to be sidelined. They must be wooed back into the fold. For this there must be sincerity seen on behalf of Bilawal, a sustained effort to give them the respect and honour within party cadre. They can teach young Bilawal a lot.
Second, he needs to acquaint himself with the issues of today. Whipping up feelings on issues not relevant to the common man is neither here nor there. Rhetoric does not replace positive actions. Gone are the days of his grandfather with no independent voices in the media. Today, the geographical barriers are down, people have become wise to the ground realities, the reality of many a politician and understand the hollowness of political speeches with no substance.
Third, Bilawal must pinpoint issues, start working the base needed to go into elections when they do take place. Going in with old slogans, relying on the Bhutto name may be effective with a small number of loyalists only but it will not be enough to put him in the driving seat.
Four, he needs to remember the voter of today. At least a good percentage was not a voter in his grandfather and mother’s times. He is not a seasoned politician; he has not spent a great deal of time in touch with provincial grassroots. This must be corrected. He must conduct tours nationwide but only after studying local issues, meeting local leaders. The common people do not need just public addresses. Including younger members to national youth programmes or at least drawing up shadow youth programmes can be a start. Developing local talent nationwide for different games, in particular cricket, can be a good starting point.
Five, he must have meetings with intellectuals of the country. Small groups. Try listening more, discussing issues. In the past many years, those intellectuals who openly empathised with and supported PPP have openly distanced themselves from the party.
Six, Bilawal needs to develop a good team for social media. These people must be trained and well entrenched with issues pinpointed and strategies by PPP to address them. He himself must not become a party to the social media team and start getting involved in exchanges. His exchanges on Twitter many months ago left more bad taste in the mouth than lead to anything positive.
Seven, Bilawal needs a brainstorming session with his chosen team and input from provincial tour meetings to offer something substantial and doable for the young voters. This is extremely important. The young voters must affiliate themselves on some level with Bilawal and PPP.
Eight, Bilawal must decide upon core advisory team for defence, policy, so on and so forth. He must be seen to listen to their opinion and follow through. He will not be taken seriously without. This will give confidence to the party members and the people generally.
The PPP needs maturity at helm. If the leader is not mature, he must borrow it and surround himself with it until he gains it himself. He needs to decide upon one individual to issue public statements on the party’s behalf. Sherry Rehman or Naheed Khan may be a good choice for obvious reasons.
Bilawal must act, but as a leader of a national party must refrain from marginalising himself by harping on preserving the Sindh heritage only. Why only Sindh? Why not take note of dilapidated state of monuments, buildings in other provinces as well? Preserving arts and culture of various ethnicities nationwide?
Nine, his public speeches must not start at the onset and must not hit at other parties. Let us not forget, PPP must talk of what it wants to do for the people, about strategies and about policies. It will be easy for other parties to point towards PPP’s failures at different levels marked with poor governance. He must put his head down and work. Clear-cut strategies, long term and short-term goals must be detailed, and put together properly and released to the media. Throwing stray sentences in disjointed speeches is kids’ stuff, not to be taken seriously.
He needs to stop harping on democracy being a panacea for all ills, which the common man has started identifying with dynastic politics. The PPP must revert to an ideological party that it was. Not limiting itself simply to offer lip service alone. It has held peoples’ hearts many years ago, it needs to win them again. Like a product gone bad, PPP needs greater effort to correct its image in the minds of the people. Bilawal must rise to recapture the spirit of ideology that PPP once vibrated with. The road is hard and rocky and there is no shortcut. If anyone advises Bilawal otherwise, they will be doing the greatest disservice to the young man.
The retreat of PPP has created a great imbalance in the political sphere in the country.
Further, Pakistanis are disenchanted with the politicians. There seems to be a growing feeling that politicians are generally self-serving with a studied careless attitude towards people. Let us not go back to the strategy of ‘boots to reboot’.