There’s no denying that, with elections rapidly approaching, voters’ primary concerns this year will once again be the personalities of the major contenders rather than a choice between opposing beliefs.
The three major parties, the PTI, the PPP, and the PML-N, did not reveal their manifestos until a few days before the election on February 8. Usually, parties release their manifestos months in advance, but this time, voters and pundits were not afforded the time or chance to thoroughly review the platforms of their parties, assess the likelihood of their promises, and discuss them with one another. Furthermore, a cursory look at the manifestos indicates that, other from their distinct goals of centering their programmes around Islamic justice and welfare, business and industry, or the people, very little remains to distinguish the parties’ ideologies from one another.
Naturally, it is far simpler to mobilise the public with catchphrases like “four legs good, two legs bad” than it is to take the time to study the issues they are facing and develop thoughtful responses within a predetermined ideological framework. Regretfully, in this era of social media, which has democratised access to and participation in political discourse while simultaneously hastening a decrease in the intellectual calibre of political arguments, the simple solution is also the one that offers additional incentives.
Party leaders don’t seem to be dealing with heavy political ideologies anymore, as audience attention spans are gradually decreasing. Instead, they are concentrating more on buzzwords and soundbites that have the potential to “go viral” on new mass communication platforms. Regretfully, the rise in name-calling in recent years is a sign of the “dumbing down” of politics over time. People like to point the finger at one political party or another for “ruining the political culture” in Pakistan, but the reality is that most parties replaced its ideologues with less desirable men and women over time, which is why we have today.
Political parties increasingly gave up on their pursuit of ideologically defined paths to advancement in favour of the laborious effort of survival and self-preservation, thanks in part to the recurrent meddling in the nation’s natural political growth. It is only natural for society to revert to lower forms of themselves when such tendencies take control. While some smaller parties have, of course, remained true to their ideological foundations and have maintained a more traditional approach to politics, their overall contribution to political culture has been minimal, even in light of their limited influence on the larger political landscape.
It is necessary to make a course correction and include it in the agenda for political stabilisation in the event of a post-election situation.
