The zero man
The Lodhran loss could be a blip[1] or it could be
confirmation of what many have long suspected — that Imran can’t win, doesn’t
know how to win.
That’s fine.
Many have lusted after
power, few have achieved it. Imran has over-promised and under-delivered for so
long now that a definitive[2] defeat the next time round
wouldn’t be such a big deal.
At this point, Imran
winning may be the bigger surprise.
But even in defeat, an
impact can be had. So you don’t get to be in government or parliament in large
numbers, but there’s still a chance to shape the governance agenda or the
national discourse.
Kinda like the PPP did
with the south-Punjab-province gamble. Knowing it was heading for a walloping[3] in the last election, the
PPP tried the ethnic card: vote for us and we’ll give you your own province.
There’s nothing really —
nothing new, significant or potentially lasting — that Imran has added to
politics here.
It was all kinds of
stupid. Two Punjab provinces would have doubled Punjab’s share in the Senate
and representation in the CCI, ECP, NFC and sundry federal bodies. It would
have given Punjab two high courts, possibly funnelling[4] more Punjab judges to the
Supreme Court.
If the smaller provinces
think they have a bad deal of it right now, two Punjab provinces would have
been a whole other headache.
But the PPP was
desperate, the Seraiki vote was its only chance in Punjab and an election had
to be fought.
It did cause a change of
sorts, though. Alarmed by the possibility of their prized possession being
split and concerned that the separatist genie may be difficult to put back in
the bottle, the PML-N began to take south Punjab seriously.
A decent electoral haul
from south Punjab followed and the past four years have been spent pouring
money into the region. South Punjab isn’t and will never be Lahore, but the
political distance between Lahore and south Punjab has shrunk.
The heavy turnout in the
by-election was a clue as is the problem of having too many winners in the
PML-N camp. Having too many winners in the same constituency fighting for the
same ticket can be a problem, but it’s a better problem than having no winners.
Point being, the PPP’s
desperation forced the PML-N to respond to the ethnic card by doing more of the
stuff the N-League is handy at, like pouring cement and tar and sprucing up
infrastructure and handing out stuff.
So back to Imran.
Imagine he disappears and the PTI implodes.[5] Poof,[6] gone, suddenly, all of it.
What would the contribution left behind be, to national politics, to what other
parties do, to how the system behaves?
That’s what’s so
irritating about Imran.
You can’t think of
anything.
It’s all the more
frustrating because of how far he’s come. From a party of one he’s dragged the
PTI all the way to becoming the second largest party in the country. Even now,
he’s still got a realistic shot[7] at power in a few months.
But there’s nothing.
Nothing durable that the PTI has contributed, by design[8]
or accident, to the national game. PTI groupies[9] harp on[10] about the anti-corruption
stuff, but it’s mostly more of the same.
Sure, Imran has made
anti-corruption his signature[11] message, but by narrowly
focusing on Nawaz, and occasionally Zardari, he hasn’t moved the needle[12] on systemic corruption.
‘My opponent is corrupt’ isn’t exactly a novel political message.
PTI haters will flag[13] the coarsening[14]
of political rhetoric that the PTI has effected.[15] It’s true that Imran has
been crude[16] and the PTI got
a jump on[17] the social-media
game with a mocking, ugly tone.
But tales of what BB
suffered at the hands of the IJI and the PML-N before the Sharifs became holier-than-thou[18]
are hardly forgotten. And the universality of social-media ugliness suggests
it’s less the PTI and more the medium that has unleashed wretchedness globally.
Up and down and through
the PTI agenda you can sift and search and there’s nothing really — nothing
new, significant or potentially lasting — that Imran has added to politics
here.
There’s nothing even
that Imran has forced the PML-N to change tack[19]
on.
Unless Nawaz barnstorming[20]
the country like Imran is considered a change. Given the success Nawaz seems to
be having with it, if you were the PTI you’d probably rather that Nawaz hadn’t
taken to matching jalsa for jalsa.
Electoral reforms were
the great possibility — and the catalyst[21] was definitely Imran’s
campaign to delegitimise the results of the last election. But once it became
clear that the PML-N wasn’t about to be ousted, Imran lost interest in
electoral reforms.
In the end, the
electoral reforms package was overshadowed[22]
by the Nawaz-as-party-president clause and the repulsive[23]
character who arrived in Faizabad.
So vote for PTI or don’t
vote for PTI, love Imran or hate Imran. But also allow yourself a little
irritation.
Because for all the
noise Imran has made, for all the votes he’s won, for all the disruption he’s
caused, he’s managed to achieve virtually nothing.
He doesn’t seem to know
how to win nor has he forced, directly or indirectly, deliberately or
unwittingly, positive change in anyone else or the system itself.
It’s annoying,
irritating and exhausting.
(Adapted
from Dawn on February 18th, 2018)
[3] walloping:
a heavy defeat
[4] direct;
guide; move into and through a narrow space
[5] fail
completely economically or politically
[9] an
enthusiastic fan
[10] repeat
something; to repeat or stress something in a way that becomes tiresome
[11] distinctive
characteristic
[13] indicate
something: to draw somebody's attention to something
[15] make
sth happen
[16] vulgar
or obscene
[19] course
of action; direction; path
[20] travel
from place to place giving performances
[23] very
unpleasant
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