Asif Ali Zardari, the new-born boss of Pakistan’s largest political party, owes his momentous rise in politics to two ‘accidents’: In 1987, Begum Nusrat Bhutto picked him for marrying off her 34-year-old daughter Benazir Bhutto who had been by then popularly acclaimed as the undisputed leader of the party founded by her father in 1967. For whatever reason Begum Bhutto made her choice, as some said she wanted someone from a feudal background to look after her daughter’s personal security in a male-dominated political culture, it was the beginning of a new journey to big time politics for Asif Zardari who would not have hoped to go beyond winning his father’s seat from Nawabshah. Benazir’s assassination in December 2007 turned a new and decisive chapter in Zardari’s political career. She had willed that her husband be made the party chairperson. Notwithstanding the symbolic move to name Bilawal as Benazir’s successor, Zardari has virtually taken over the PPP leadership.
Critics would say Zardari has risen to the top by a fluke of history; he is not qualified to hold the prestigious job that has come his way. But then it may be a little too early to pass any value judgements about his political future. Somewhat similar strictures were passed when Benazir had inherited her father’s political empire. She has a high public rating only because she is Bhutto’s daughter, even though she does not possess any of the leadership qualities her father had, critics said, as they projected a doomsday scenario for the PPP after Bhutto’s killing. She proved all her critics wrong by bouncing back with greater vigour each time her party suffered a set back. And Benazir dead has turned out to be a more lethal political-force than Benazir alive. Zardari is of a different mettle from the Bhutto clan, and may not possess some of the in-born Bhutto traits, but the real test of his leadership would come when he oversees the PPP’s unfinished election campaign.
To make Zardari the party leader was a compulsion of dynastic politics. Although he did not have the leverage of having a ‘Bhutto surname’, he could still be projected as a legatee of Bhutto dynasty, like Sonia Gandhi was marketed as the ‘Bahu’ (daughter-in-law) of the Gandhi clan. To play it safe, the 19-year-old Bilawal was put up as Benazir’s real successor and Zardari as only the guardian of the minor heir-apparent. Not that there was no one else in the PPP capable of taking over the party leadership, there are scores of competent and seasoned politicians in the party whose integrity and loyalty to the Bhutto mission has been tested beyond any doubt. But then it would have been contrary to the ethos of country’s political culture to transfer power from the dynasty to an ‘outsider’. It was not only a question of PPP’s internal dynamics, but also of public acceptability of the leadership.
Dynastic politics has flourished in the country because it appeals to our mindset --- a product of medieval tribal culture. Patriarchal authority is socially acceptable and so is the ‘linage’ as the basis for political succession. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto would be remembered in history as the leader of the masses who toppled an authoritarian regime, but he was no less despotic than Ayub Khan in running the affairs of his own party. Bhutto believed in personalised politics and deliberately didn’t allow his party to grow as an institution. And as his daughter succeeded him, she inherited her father’s style of functioning, demanding total loyalty and obedience to her person and shuffling and reshuffling the so-called party hierarchy to suit her convenience. Small wonder, Asif Zardari being her husband and the only person in the family with whom, she could trust sharing of power, was the obvious choice for leading the party after her killing.
Destiny has propped up Zardari for a role beyond his own imagination. Given his controversial political past he will have to go an extra-mile to repair his tarnished reputation, in particular the stigma of ‘Mr Ten per cent’ which stuck to his name during Benazir’s second term as prime minister. True he was kept in prison for eight long years but none of the corruption charges against him could be proved in a court of law. And Zardari would insist as he has done before that all the cases brought against him were politically motivated. But rebuilding an impaired image for a dubious integrity is a tall order, and Zardari will have to face the music of open criticism when the PPP adversaries take up ‘Zardari bashing’ on their political agendas. When the PPP was drastically cut down to size in the 1997 elections (winning only 15 National Assembly seats) in the wake of Benazir government’ dismissal by her handpicked President Farooq Leghari, critics attributed her dramatic fall from popular grace to the corruption syndrome, in which, they said, Zardari had played the major role.
It is an open secret that Zardari has never been popular in the PPP ranks. On the contrary he was seen by many as the cause of her downfall. Ironically, she let him stay back when she returned to Pakistan, and preferred not to associate him with her election campaign. Zardari himself said that she did not want him to fight the election. There were also rumours of strained relationship between the two after Zardari’s release from prison and joining the family abroad. In some quarters Zardari was accused of having a hand in Murtaza Bhutto’s killing, and some stories were then in circulation how the two men hated each other and Murtaza, in particular, missed no opportunity to personally humiliate Zardari. As rumours would have it some apologists for Benazir’s misrule in her second term are prone to acknowledging that Asif Zardari was responsible for promoting corruption in high places. In any case corruption charges have been made against almost all politicians but never proved conclusively, not only in Pakistan but also in neighbouring India where Rajiv Gandhi was accused of receiving ‘kickbacks’ in the Buffers gun deal but his widow has emerged as the ‘kingmaker’ in Indian politics.
There is no denying the fact that Asif Ali Zardari has never been a source of strength for Benazir’s politics. On the contrary he was seen as ‘more of a liability than an asset, when Benazir became prime minister for two terms. Does he have the capability to deliver in the PPP’s hour of adversity is the key question. In the short run the PPP is likely to ride the crest of a ‘sympathy wave’, and whether the Bhutto loyalists like him or not they would have to go along with Zardari to fight an election which the PPP is poised to win. One has to grant him the ‘honeymoon’ period when he is likely to keep a low profile and not meddle in the party affairs as an assertive boss. Thereafter would be beginning of a real test of his leadership qualities. Can he hold the party together, override factional strife, and manage to establish his political authority as the new PPP supremo, apart from winning a favourable public image; are some the crucial matters that would determine his political future?
Nevertheless, Asif Ali Zardari’s handicaps are more than obvious. He is a poor substitute to Benazir to lead the Bhutto dynasty. He neither has the charisma, nor the rapport with masses, which gave Benazir an edge over all her political rivals. He cannot take for granted the loyalty of ‘Jiyalas’ --- the durable ‘Bhutto loyalists’ ready to fight a ‘do or die battle’ for a Bhutto cause. For the party hierarchy he was the unavoidable choice for the new leadership, but the masses will not readily endorse the party decision. Zardari will have to earn the place, rather than take it as a parting gift of the assassinated Bhutto.
