Jahangir Badar and the PPP
Former General Secretary PPP and twice federal minister Jahangir Badar breathed his last on Monday. Those who attended his funeral included present and former VIPs and people from all walks of life including a handful of old-timers. He belonged to the breed of the PPP activists called ‘jialas,’ or the diehard party loyalists who could neither be bought nor intimidated by successive military regimes. The breed which once distinguished the PPP from other political parties was to gradually become extinct.
Badar’s entry into national politics came after five years of student activism. As President of the Hailey College Students Union in 1968 he participated in the anti-Ayub movement and was arrested. In 1970 Badar was the presidential candidate of the left-liberal front in the Punjab University Students Union election. Soon after the election which was rigged by the university administration Badar was arrested and dispatched to jail under Yahya Khan’s Martial law regulations. Badar joined the ranks of the PPP in mid-70. Having deep roots in old Lahore’s society, the former student leader strengthened the party at the grass roots. Come Zia Martial Law, Badar was once again arrested, awarded lashes and put behind the bars.
In 1988 Badar was elected MNA and made a federal minister in BB’s cabinet. He could not win the subsequent NA elections as his connection with the grass root politics had weakened. He was twice made Senator on account of his loyalty to the party leadership. During the first stint beginning 1994 he was again appointed a federal minister. Badar enjoyed the perks of power but the party had already started losing grip over the masses in Punjab. The PPP government’s policies during the Zardari era when Badar was again made Senator cost the party dearly in the province. Some of the old-timers were sidelined while others bid farewell to politics when the provincial leadership was handed over to so-called electables. Badar was one of the few jialas who continued to remain loyal to the party despite its collapse in Punjab.
