PPP still in a mess
Young Bilawal might well be better endowed politically than most other Pakistanis – as his party loyalists never tire of claiming – but he will still have to learn his fair share of lessons if his party is to be reinvigorated. And with his father away and nobody in the party high enough on the food chain to mentor him, he will have to let experience be his guide. The Bagh feedback, hopefully, would have been instructive in this regard. If the frontal attack on the PML-N was meant to rally scattered PPP workers around the new leadership, it did not turn out to be a very smart idea.
The Indian connection was more revealing – it’s understandable why Bilawal would want to act and talk like Zulfiqar Bhutto. But while “anti-India” was the main party thrust in the grandfather’s time is understandable, why it must be now is not so clear. Clearly, nobody explained to Bilawal why his mother broke from the old party theme and reached out to India in her own time. Back then the establishment reacted by showering Ms Bhutto with the same sort of names that Bilawal used for Nawaz Sharif in Kashmir.
Political players across the board have realised that politics of confrontation with India will just not do in the new setting. That is precisely why everybody, even the establishment, eventually saw the rationale of accommodating India. Bilawal’s borrowed rhetoric, at the end of the day, amounted to little more than leveraging a popular war cry to hit the government as well as try and unite his own party. Yet his party is still in a mess, and his provocation only betrayed political immaturity on his behalf. His turnaround strategy, therefore, will have to focus more on a cohesive, progressive agenda for his party and the people instead of just launching attacks on the government.
Sir, you say 'nobody to mentor him' ? Those "redundant Uncles" whom he once tried to relieve of their duties, are all around and providing notes to be read by the ZAB imitating political joker. One would not wish to have anymore 'leader' to think of reviving it (PPP) while political Jamhooras like Bilawal Zardari are around. His Nana could not do nothing to Kashmir even if he lectured for 16 hrs before the UNSC. What Bilawal son of Mr 10% can do !
This seems to be Asif Zardari directed initiative to bash India especially in Kashmir to send a message to the military that we stand with you. This may be an effort to undo some of the damage AZ did with his 'eent se eent' speech. But in the process it is nicely shaping Bilawal as a leader. He needs to come out of the shadows and be his own person and speeches like these are what make leaders.
Comments are closed.