Hawa Badlegi is the tagline of a television ad that promotesa brand of fans. It sends two waves. Literal and metaphoric. Literally, thewind you get from this particular fan will be better and metaphorically, thecondition will change. In the mind both things change, on the ground nothingdoes. This fan – is better in some and worse in other respects – from the rest of the competing brands inthe market. It’s all a matter of choice. If you like it, buy it. If you don’t,don’t.
This slogan is making rounds these days. All parties promisethe wind will change. Hawa Badlegi. All candidates – well known, less known andunknown – peddle their manifestoes with the master slogan. Hawa Badlegi. Formost of them it’s a bait to hook voters, for a few – who are in politics withsome sense of purpose – it carries ameaning. I leave the rest and focus on Faisal. I mean Shah Faisal. The man whoshifted the course of wind from bureaucracy to politics.
Faisal has a cutting edge over his competitors. He left whatothers aspire for. Name, fame, power and – above all – security. In a society ofstick-in-the-rut, salary-to-salary, safe and assured, water-tight, air-tight,foolproof, pre and post, appointment to retirement scheme, his is a manly move.(Sheila shouldn’t mind the word `manly’ as it fits Faisal both ways. Otherwiseshe too has been no less `manly’ in her role than her boss). Normal is to jumpfrom uncertainty to certainty, his is a reverse plunge. Given that, Faisal’sslogan of change holds sense. But the question next. Hawa Badlegi? Will thewind change?
It will, it won’t. It will, as an effort will be made. Itwon’t, as the elements are the same. Same challenges to meet, same questions toconfront, same pain to cure, same fears to negotiate. Presume Faisal in thechair, will the bloodshed end? Will the army vanish? Will the rights berestored? Will the exploitation of resources be history? Will the root of theproblem change? The wind changes only if the root changes and if the rootdoesn’t change, will he quit? Yes Faisal may prove a better choice we hope, butthe wind will blow the same way as it’s been blowing.
My word to Faisal. Peg your promises like we peg our tents. Deep in the ground. The only thing you can assure of doing is to explore the possible which politics is all about. Seed you have sown, leave the fruit to a variety of factors some you can control, some you can’t.
In this huge field of politics, you are like a farmer who does all he can, but then the harvest doesn’t purely hang on his hard-work. Don’t set the bar impracticably high. Promises little but doable are better than promise big but beyond reach. Words weave a trap which you can’t later escape from. As they say promise in poetry, deliver in prose. You have struck with a difference. You should pledge with a difference. Like many, don’t promise moon, promise earth. And then the wind – possibly – may change. Will change.