Having been routed in Punjab, efforts to resuscitate the PPP hinge on making it a ‘party of resistance’ once again
On Dec 22, 2015, as interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan sanctioned a 60-day extension to the Rangers’ special policing powers in Sindh, he might have unwittingly handed the PPP an opportunity that they had been searching for since long: to become “a party of resistance” in Punjab once again.
“How can you turn the party of resistance into a party of reconciliation?” asks a veteran PPP activist from Lahore. “Even Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari told us that the PPP is a party of resistance and not of reconciliation. But we often wonder, when will he turn his guns at the Sharifs or the others?”
The insinuation is clear: the PPP in Punjab is leaderless, directionless and impotent. Without relevance in Punjab, it is struggling to exert its stature in national politics too.
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“Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari’s policy of reconciliation towards the ruling PML-N for such a long period of time has damaged us dearly,” asserts the veteran activist. “Imran Khan exploited our position and labelled the PPP as PML-N’s ‘B Team’ and a ‘friendly opposition’.”
That label has stuck, as have unfavourable perceptions about the party’s leadership and corruption allegations over many other leaders. The party has neither been able to provide stiff competition to the PML-N nor has it withstood the tsunami of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI). It is neither in government nor has it been an effective opposition.
This state of affairs hasn’t been a sudden revelation, of course.
Ever since the 2008 elections, the party has been on a sharp decline in Punjab. In terms of seats in the Punjab Assembly, the PPP ranks fourth with seven seats, behind the PML-N (305 seats), PTI (26 seats) and even PML-Q (nine seats). The party’s abysmal performance in the 2013 general and provincial elections as well this year’s local body polls in Punjab only reflect how deep the rot has set in.
Not long ago, the PPP used to receive good sums in application fees from prospective party ticket aspirants. Not this time though, as the party could not field its candidates on a number of seats for chairmen. Most of the old guards preferred to contest independently instead because they fancied their chances as independent candidates.
In Lahore alone, of the total 274 seats of chairmen, the PPP fielded 80 and managed to secure one city constituency. This shows where the party of the Bhuttos now stands in Lahore, a city that was once its citadel.
To reverse the tide, there is consensus among most office-bearers from all districts of Punjab that now is the right time for the PPP to shun its policy of reconciliation towards the PML-N. And yet, while this might prove to be a necessary step, it is merely the tip of the iceberg.
State of denial
“The poor are the focus of the PPP as the middle class has never been our target,” argues a senior PPP leader from central Punjab. “As long as there are poor people in Pakistan, the PPP has a chance to make a comeback, because the working classes love the party of the Bhuttos and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s slogan of roti, kapra, makaan still resonates with them.”
Given the senior leader’s assurances, it is surprising that the PPP failed to get votes from areas inhabited by the poor in Lahore during the 2013 elections, by-polls and local body elections.
Residents of the narrow alleys of Lahore’s walled city, for example, had become diehard PPP supporters because the party had brought natural gas connections to their homes when Benazir Bhutto came to power in 1988. Former PPP secretary-general Jehangir Badr had won from the old city too. And yet, the PPP has lost its pull and much ground in such areas of Lahore and other parts of Punjab.
But while this reality persists, some PPP leaders and workers are not ready to believe that the PPP was ‘wiped out’ from Punjab in the 2013 elections and subsequently hit further lows in local body elections.
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