Following in the footsteps of his father Asif Ali Zardari, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has severely criticised the Sharif brothers and alleged that their “style of governance is all about obliging their relatives and friends”.Addressing a gathering of charged party workers at the Bilawal House on Saturday, he criticised the two brothers over their failure to overcome the energy crisis and ending corruption, and for a “style of governance aimed at fooling the people”.The PPP chairman also questioned the “establishment’s act” of terming the PPP “a financer of terrorists”, apparently a reference to the Dr Asim Hussain case. He asked why a reference filed by his father to reopen the “judicial murder of his grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto” had not yet been taken up by the judiciary. Bilawal Bhutto’s address to party workers in Lahore was a tirade against the PML-N policies. It was, however, less well-written and rehearsed than his speech in Karachi in October 18 last year. Some of his advisers wrongly believe that to win support in Punjab the PPP chairman must roar and thunder and as Firdous Ashiq Awan graphically put it ‘act like Maula Jatt and Nurie Nath’. It is insulting the common man’s intelligence to suggest that he does not care for the content of a speech and is swayed solely by oratory. As things stand PPP’s ratings in Punjab have hit the rock bottom. While Bilwal is right to point out some of the gravest failures of the PML-N government, the way the PPP is running Sindh does not create confidence in the party’s claims of being better than others. There is a need on the PPP’s part to conduct a candid review of its failures during its five-year rule that alienated many. The PPP also needs to come up with a new policy that differentiates it from others and while catering to the aspirations of the people, it does not set unrealistic goals. Fiery speeches are fine but the people soon get weary of them. Addresses delivered in ZAB’s style but lacking in substance wouldn’t take PPP much further. Bilawal has come out in Punjab with both fists swinging and all guns blazing. This change of tack was becoming visible of late since the Punjab PPP’s long standing argument that the ‘reconciliation’ policy was damaging the political prospects of the party in the most populous province that was once its main (ideological and political) base were clinched by the recent spate of arrests and cases against the PPP’s leaders. What remains to be seen, despite the obvious enthusiasm of the PPP’s workers to have their young leader in their midst at last, is whether the new strategy can succeed in overcoming the graph of the PPP’s decline in Punjab over many years. If Bilawal’s remarks are any guide, it appears the party is groping its way back to its original élan of a party of the poor, peasants and workers. The response of this constituency will be watched with great interest in the days ahead.
pk.shafaqna.com
