Why PPP has lost its glory? Democracy, Federalism & Disadvantage group politics and the Party

Why PPP has lost its glory?

Democracy, Federalism & Disadvantage group politics and the Party

A brief analysis of 51 years of PPP rise & fall. It is not important to decide who did fault but important thing is to understand the phenomenon and move forward accordingly. 

The Party was exponent of democracy, federalism and pro-lower classes’ & disadvantage groups policies, but it did compromise largely due to various reasons and indeed, it is time to revisit the last 51 years in general but the last 10 years in particular.

From its birth, the Party had many friends who supported it from outside and during 51 years, it did well particularly during its all 4 tenures Party always did well when it had made reasonably good alliances with other parties. Even during Zia & Mushraff period it made good alliances. 

A strong power base of the party was outside party but in last 10 years it has lost that largely. The apathy was recorded in 2011, especially before PTI Lhore public meeting when many leaders of the Party came with a defeatist policy  regarding PTI. It was said that as both PML(N) and PTI were rightest parties so if they fought with each other then rightest vote divided and it would benefit PPP. Under such analysis, the Party had smartly supported PTI. 

Like Buddhism, it has lost its appeal in the Punjab, it’s birthplace.

No doubt, a section of establishment remained adamant since its birth to finish its popularity from the Punjab.

Due to multiple reasons, the party is intact in interior Sindh and trying to procure some few constituencies in Karachi but it is not the party founded by ZAB and run by Benazir Bhutto. 

Read the article published in The News on Sunday 23 December 2018

From Bhutto to Bilawal

Nevertheless, what has happened to the party in the last 10 years is a challenging question not only for its critics but also for it supporters. Practically, the party is limited to interior Sindh, though thanks to Saeed Ghani and Raza Rabbani it has some influence left in urban Sindh. It has lost its appeal in the Punjab, more precisely in the areas adjacent to the famous GT Road. In the past, the party had its power base in those very areas.

In 1970, it was a ‘Punjabi party’ but in 2018, it has largely become a ‘Sindhi’ party. Till 2008, the party had won enough seats from Punjab, yet in 2013 and 2018 its deterioration in Punjab was complete disappointing even its diehard workers.

Expulsion of PPP from the political scene of Punjab was partly by design and partly due to excessive influence of PPP Sindh on the decision-making processes. Punjab is not the only province where the party has lost its popularity; its position is pathetic even in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It has no MNA from this province in election 2018. PPP’s ambiguous stand on creation of new provinces is a primary reason for its downfall in both provinces but it is not the only reason. The federal stature of the party suffers as a consequence.