A campaign without 'rhyme' or reason
Pakistan
Ongoing campaign has not produced popular slogans that could captivate imagination of voters
By Ameenur Rehman
Elections are around the corner sans usual fanfare and noisy sloganeering which add to the fervour of the contest.
In the last general elections, all the clamorous debates relating to the election manifestos and campaigns were expressed in terms of the slogans that the contenders had coined and peddled to entice the voters.
The two main contenders of the last elections - the PTI and the PML-N - went into the election campaign while sticking fiercely to their slogans. The PML-N invoked ‘Give respect to vote’ whereas the PTI pressed into service ‘Tabdeeli’ and ‘Naya Pakistan’ to make it to the corridors of power.
Both the rivals ended up dashing the hopes of the credulous and the cunning alike by compromising the ideals they professed in terms of popular slogans. The exigencies of time prompted the PML-N to set aside the slogan meant to earn respect for vote while realpolitik outweighed the idealism of the PTI that had rekindled hopes and interest of many in politics and political activism.
Unlike the campaign for the last election in 2018, the ongoing lackluster campaign has not produced popular slogans that could captivate the imagination of voters and urge them to come out and participate in electioneering.
The lack of festivity and enthusiasm may be explained in terms of uncertainty that has prevailed as to the holding of elections in view of the moves to prolong the tenure of the caretakers. In addition, the crackdown on the PTI in the wake of the May 9 incidents seems to have rendered the contest lopsided.
Read More: PTI chief masterminded May 9 events to force army chief's resignation: Usman Dar
Calls for level playing field have resonated persistently. With one prime contestant bearing the brunt of the state wrath, predestination prevails as to the outcome of the elections, dampening the spirit of a large chunk of the electorate.
While the PTI is indignant, and its rivals cautious, the contest is yet to gather momentum.
Elections are times of solemn vows and covenants expressed in popular slogans designed to play on the aspirations of voters and tickle their fancies. Slogans are advertisements, and like all other advertisements, they serve to mask the truth with misrepresentation.
The campaign managers of political parties act like dream merchants desperate to show the public the proverbial ‘green gardens’ in scorching deserts.
Politicians do need election slogans to ‘campaign in poetry’ as felicitously put by Mario Cuomo. Slogans are rhetorical embodiment of the principles and ideals of political parties meant to be put into practice.
Absence of popular slogans from the election campaign reflects a trend. The bleak economic scenario and the lengthening shadows of authoritarianism seem to have left little reason for the people and their leaders to cherish ideals. Idealism seems to have lost ground to ‘pragmatism’.
