PTI and the status quo


While slogans can be successful in galvanising supporters during the election season, they can also create high expectations, particularly if the party championing such claims wins the elections

 As a result, often the party’s performance is judged in the light of its previous claims and slogans

This is precisely why more seasoned and mature political parties shy away from setting unrealistic expectations right from the outset

Once in power, most party’s realise that governance is a difficult job due to the complex nature of the problems at hand and the scarcity of resources available

The difficulties are further compounded if the party had promised a complete change or a ‘revolution’ before coming into power

This is because it is extremely easy for voters to compare past and present and judge the extent of change the party has brought

In case the party fails (which most of such ‘revolutionary’ parties do) then addressing disappointment amongst its supporters becomes an extremely important albeit herculean task

Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf (PTI) can be categorised as a party which promised revolutionary change and has now become burdened by the extremely high expectations it raised

 The PTI slogan “Naya Pakistan” summarises its central narrative that Pakistan as a nation needs to reinvent itself and that the so called ‘status quo’ must be changed in order for the nation to escape a myriad of problems

 PTI claimed that it would challenge the status quo, from the way elections are fought to the way the country is governed

With respect to the elections, Imran initially claimed that the party would never compromise on its principles and would therefore not allot tickets to so called ‘electables

’  Imran, before 2011, frequently criticised the powerful establishment for “manipulating” elections to bring into power “puppets” of their choice

Despite the promises of ‘revolutionary’ changes in election tactics, PTI ended up shamelessly espousing the same tactics it had criticised in the past

It courted the establishment,  awarded tickets to powerful electables and ignored its loyal ideological workers

Worst of all, PTI chose to placate certain religious quarters (a dangerous and regressive tactic), once again showing that there was nothing ‘revolutionary’ about the tactics adopted by the party

With respect to governance, PTI promised that after obtaining power the party would strive to drastically change the status quo by: undertaking police reforms and stopping political interference in the process; improving social justice; enhancing freedom of expression; breaking the “begging” bowl by improving tax collection and reducing the fiscal deficit; improving human development by increasing the development budget and reducing corruption through across the board accountability

Furthermore, the party also promised a very short time horizon for making these revolutionary changes and completely overhauling the system

But, as we enter 2020, it has become increasingly clear that PTI has failed to even partially fulfill any of these tall promises

As I write these sentences, so called police reforms have still not been implemented and the party has constantly been changing inspector generals (IGs), often for paltry reasons

Human development indicators have worsened and the developmental budget has been slashed, while both the media and civil society have witnessed a near unprecedented attack on their freedom

Despite tall claims in the past, PTI chose to give the COAS an extension, albeit in a botched manner

Instead of Pakistan becoming self-reliant, our fiscal deficit is the highest it has ever been in the last three decades, and we have become international beggars severely compromising our foreign policy independence

Yes, due to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, our current account deficit has improved, but the cost has been tremendous as the growth has slowed down and utility prices have increased, disproportionately burdening the common man

Such promises were too unrealistic and the party simply never had the required competence or intent to even partially fulfill them

While PTI showed immaturity in raising such slogans, and hence expectations, its strategy in managing the fallout from its massive governance failures is also perplexing

The party, instead of honestly admitting its initial misjudgments and rectifying its failures in governance, has instead adopted a policy of giving strange spins to its failures and U-turns by interpreting them as a fight against the “status quo”

Our foreign aid dependence, which has increased under PTI, has been interpreted as a ‘revolution’ in foreign policy

Attack on media freedom is justified as a war against a ‘mafia’ in the newspapers which, in PTI’s imagination, also represent the status quo

Complete subservience to traditional powerful quarters is interpreted as being ‘on the same page’, and somehow against the status quo

The worst aspect is perhaps the selective accountability targeting the opposition and locking up of opposition leaders on extremely weak evidence

According to PTI’s narrative, Imran is doing this because he is angry and cannot shake hands with the corrupt forces of the so-called status quo

Nothing could be further from the truth than this logic

The real reason is that PTI is targeting the opposition in an attempt to cover up its own failures and to prevent the opposition from successfully launching public protests

In politics, you win by either increasing your own popularity or by weakening the opposition through a crackdown

The former method is employed by genuinely democratic parties who are performing well when in power, while the latter is employed by those who have no genuine mandate and are performing dismally

Unfortunately, it seems that PTI belongs to the latter category

Raising slogans that opposition leaders should be hanged is a vile display of personal vendettas and does not represent the fight against the status quo

If anything, working with the opposition to solve the problems Pakistan is currently facing will prove to be a genuine step towards ‘Naya Pakistan

’ Hence, PTI is a classic example of how a party becomes a victim of its own rhetoric

It should have never raised such unrealistic slogans and made such lofty promises

Regrettably, this behaviour is showing no sign of improvement as the party continues to justify its missteps



Date:03-Jan-2020 Reference:View Original Link