ALOK PRASANNA writes from Bangalore: Deve Gowda’s flip flops, the CPM’s hypocrisy, the squabbling and snivelling of the Sangh Parivar, the likes of Arjun Singh and the rest of his gerontocratic ilk, all combine to make the figure of a politician in India a much hated and reviled one. And this is just at the national level.
Criminalization, corruption, communalism and casteism—the four Cs (and I hereby assert copyright over that) seem to dominate Indian politics and political leaders at all levels. There are some honest, upright, decent and hardworking individuals among them, sure, but they either fade away into obscurity or get upstaged by the not-so-honest-decent lot (cue Ramakrishna Hegde and a very harassed Manmohan Singh).
As always, we Indians feel a bit better about such things when we look at Pakistan and find things are worse. At least we are not under martial law, at least we have a Constitution, and our options apart from martial rule are not Benazir Bhutto or Nawaz Sharif who, between them, can’t run a village panchayat to save their lives.
At least we don’t find our most capable and charismatic leader, marginalized and alone, in jail.
Arise, Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi.
Cricketer, fund raiser, playboy, politician, human rights campaigner, democracy activist, he has done them all with panache (though not entirely with the same degree of success all the time). As a cricketer, he is one of the greatest all-rounders the game has produced, definitely the best cricketer Pakistan has ever produced, and also one of only seven men to have laid their hands on the cricket World Cup trophy as captain.
Being captain of Pakistan and leading a Pakistani team to World Cup victory also usually guarantees one for a Nobel Peace Prize for conflict resolution. While many of his contemporaries turned their cricketing success into lucrative television careers, hastily written books, very bad movies and cricket punditry, Imran Khan used his cricketing fame to build Pakistan its first (and only) speciality cancer hospital.
Then he took to politics. He didn’t take to politics in the Kirti Azad or Manoj Prabhakar way (using contacts and influence to ingratiate themselves with major political parties). If he so wanted, he could have walked into any one of the major political parties in Pakistan (Nawaz Sharif is a close friend and fellow first-class cricketer), enjoyed a cabinet post for a while, and taken a dip at the trough like the rest of the lot.
Instead, he decided to take on the system and start his own party. Tehrik e Insaaf, struggled to find its feet and only won its first seat in the national assembly seven years after its formation in 2004 (Lok Paritran, take heart!).
Unlike other parties, he didn’t appeal to religion, region or race (the three Rs that form the crux of most political campaigns in South Asia—I hereby copyright that too) but, of all things, for a reform of the judiciary and the army! In most places that would send people at a political rally to sleep before you finish saying it, more so in South Asia, but he stuck to it.
Unlike Sharif and Bhutto, whom Pervez Musharraf caught in compromising positions (not with each other, you sick perverts), Imran Khan was squeaky clean and his campaign against Musharraf’s rule was the sole constant in the shifting dunes of South Asian politics (even India has never been so consistent in opposing Mushy).
Now he stands alone. Benazir is running around still trying to cut a deal, unable to make up her mind if she is a mortal enemy or mon ami of Musharraf. Sharif wants to know how he can come back and avoid prosecution for corruption, and the mullahs want to blow up anything that remotely resembles another human being carved in rock (not to mention, anyone who opposes them).
Imran Khan, on the other hand, was arrested, escaped, hid, yet came out to lead a march, was betrayed, and arrested again… under terrorism charges. It is a measure of how much Musharraf & Co fear the man that he has been detained under terrorism charges, possibly facing the death penalty.
Of course Musharraf can’t and won’t make a martyr of him. He won’t be able to find pilots to take him out of the country fast enough if he did so. What we have seen of Imran Khan’s life story so far could be the stuff of at least three or four best-selling autobiographies (Monty Panesar has two already and Ian Botham turns out one every five years) and double that many Bollywood movies (not to mention a fast-paced Hollywood flick starring George Clooney called the “Lion of Lahore”).
He is someone who comes closest to being a “hero” in the fullest sense of that word. Yet, he can hope to be, at best, a marginal, yet vocal player in the treacherous and dangerous world of Pakistani politics.
Imagine, for a moment, Partition never happened.
Imagine, for a moment, an Indian cricket team with Imran, Javed Miandad, Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, in the same XI.
Imagine a born-leader like Imran taking to politics in India.
Imagine an Imran Khan using his charisma, his mass appeal, his vision and his leadership abilities and climbing up, to the post of Prime Minister of India.
A truly secular politician, mature enough to lead, young enough to work hard, with undeniable leadership skills, total commitment to the values of democracy, and unafraid of taking on the system. He could be a male version of Indira Gandhi without a Sanjay Gandhi to cause trouble.
Think about it.
Imran has consistently opposed US support of Musharraf, so the Communists would love him. He is a non-fundamentalist Muslim with great name-recall in the minds of middle class Indians, so the BJP would welcome him with open arms. And since Sonia Gandhi deflected attention from her “foreign origins” by appointing a Pakistani-born PM, she would also have no problem making Imran Khan PM.
He could well lead a National Unity Government and end up being the most popular and successful of all Indian PMs. Leaving aside small constitutional matters, I say he would be the best candidate to be PM of India. Being in charge of a vast, chaotic, yet undeniably energetic and developing country like India would be the perfect outlet for his talents.
What say you?
Photo courtesy: Brisbane Times
Alok: a fine, original piece of writing, and a great lesson to our politicians, cricketers and indeed even our political writers and thinkers wading around in the incestuous cesspool.
Absolutely, the playboy image of Imran Khan would have adorned our very own playboy, Rahul Gandhi to the T.
No quarrel on the fact he is one of cricket’s greatest all rounders, no quibble over his approach to politics and the service he has rendered through his cancer hospital…but I cannot accept your hypothesis that he would have been the best candidate to be PM in India. Indian politics has provided ample evidence that it is guile more than gallantry, machinations more than machismo that marks the winner at the end of the day. Imran comes across as too plain and straighforward and our wily bunch would have spun googlies around the hardy Pathan.
But then, what’s life, what’s churuumuri without its flights of fancy…
Wow..I never knew all this about Imran Khan. Thanks for a nice write up.
Is this the same Alok that comments frequently too?
Sonia Gandhi deflected attention from her “foreign origins” by appointing a Pakistani-born PM
Manmohan Singh was born in INDIA!
Sorry to spoil your wet dreams, Alok. You have glossed over the achievements of Imran Khan but omitted the more unsavory past of his. To wit, whatever happened to Sita White and his love child from that relationship? To this day, Immy refuses to acknowledge her! And about the Gold Digger’s reputation for having married Jemima Goldsmith–she left him after 9-years of marriage because she was tired of Immy and soon reverted to her Western lifestyle. If it is a tongue-in-cheek comment I can understand:)
…and what about the famous quote by Immy on Indian actresses: “They are all whores! Pathans have been going down South since time immemorial to screw the women in India (or something to that effect).” To this nice bit of history, some one wrote in India Today, “Imran Khan is known for his bowling and his fearsome bouncers. Now the ‘real one refuses to rise, so he has to indulge in fantasy.” heh heh:))
Can I go on? Nah! I won’t…don’t want to spoil your moment in the ‘secular’ sun!
Give me India and Indians any day. Thank you very much.
Indian public life would sort Imran out. He would be just another money grabbing, fame seeking person with his own TV show or movie career and tax problems.
Maybe one who along the way did his bit for charity and the country. Kind of like another pathan – Shahrukh Khan.
Alok Prasanna, a well written and entertaining read. Thanks!
@Pramod
I am the same guy who used to turn up and comment on this blog.
Thanks a lot for your encouragement guys, I hope to keep contributing to churumuri ;).
Not A Witty Nick Says:
Sonia Gandhi deflected attention from her “foreign origins” by appointing a Pakistani-born PM
Manmohan Singh was born in INDIA!
He was born on 26 September 1932, in Gah, Punjab (now in Chakwal district, Pakistan).
I find this post more of a gloat than of any real achievements. Similar to indicating that Rahul Gandhi is a super human because he didnt do that and this and not because he did this and that.
1. His party took a long time to win a seat. Why do you think Alok? Because he had policies (similar to Lokparitran) that didnt appeal to the common janta. The same janta who struggled for daily existence and not for the “I am a prince” lifestyle that Imran Khan enjoyed. His disconnect with the normal janta is quite evident here,
2. Religion based Politics never appealed to the common Abdul in Pakistan. Inspite of Zia’s valiant efforts, not one single Islamic party came into being in Pakistan till Mia Musharraf came into force. Imran never did a noble job in refusing to stir up politics, he realized he had no choice but to stay away from politics.
3. Lalu Prasad has a great deal of charisma and mass appeal and yet he has screwed up Bihar more than anyone else. I understand Charisma is important but ridiculous to believe that is important than being a visonary. I am unable to source articles on the web or elsewhere that Imran Khan was a visionary, infact as the recent events leading to his arrests have shown, Imran Khan is far from it and appears as a short-sighted clown who does not understand the pulse of his own people.
4. I can go on and on about the rest of your posts. But I am amazed that people like you think Imran can do a better job and Indian politicians have failed us more than Pakistani politicians. One look at the respective countries and the picture is crystal clear.
jeevarathna, I think the point is that on 26th September 1932, Gah in Chakwal district of Punjab, was in India.
The closest thing to Imran Khan I can think of in India is Vijay Mallya. He used his own money to try to revive a party and get himself elected. The only person to gain out of that was probably Subramaniam Swamy.
But that said, it requires something to put your money where your mouth is. It also speaks to the sad state of Pakistani politics that Imran Khan is spoken of as a national leader in the same breath as Sharif and Bhutto. There is nobody else there.
Thank you for this article and sharing our grief. Sons like him are not born everyday and I hope Pakistanis realize this.
alok, always enoyed your comments write more.
you give too much credit to IK. everything in pak is controlled by army and the isi, the rest are all show pieces. remember bhuttabbe for all her hatred for the army she signed on the dotted line on india in the east and taliban in the west.
IK has not come out and said madrassa, sharia, jihad-ism and other nice nice ideas are a no-no. perhaps a bit more flair, but still the same crap nevertheless.
if he comes up with the same set of ideas in india then he will reduce india to a pakistan. any country in which MSJ operate the endgame is afg/pak. while IK was playing to the gallery about lal masjid, a wiseman in the indian personal law board realized this and called for shunning madrassa.
I take off on only one premise of the article. Honesty i dont ever think that partition should not have happened. Imagine administering a large country like India+Pakistan. Partition was good, but we all hope Pakistan was not inhabited by Pakistanis!!
This whole imagination of Pakistan being part of india, united india could have achieved so much more, blah, blah, blah is primarily wet dream of a few north indians. but for most people down south, pakistan is as distant as timbuktoo or swahil. it is a cancer that better be not part of the body.
Rajeev says: it is a cancer that better be not part of the body.
Let some sugar be put into your mouth for saying it as it is.
Jeevarathna!
He was born on 26 September 1932, in Gah, Punjab (now in Chakwal district, Pakistan).
In 1932, even Mohammed Ali Jinnah had no effing idea about creation of Pakistan!
hmm… satire…
Then Manmohan Singh was born in a remote corner of the British Empire?
In 1932, even Mohammed Ali Jinnah had no effing idea about creation of Pakistan!
No one any idea even Mysore would become part of a Republic either ! There were some 560 and odd Princely states and the rest being part of British India.
Let us not split hair on technicalities ! I only quoted on a specific point of view and perspective from which Alok and written and NAWN tried to score a brownie point. It is either way irrelevant.
alok writes with a mysorean sensibility…he cannot be from bangalore…Hmmm…i am seldom wrong (ahem!)
Nice! Informative, well-finished..
Dude, Alokamania has hit the internet!
Our Pied Piper has been arrested; the only one who was playing the most enchanting genuine pure tune of truth in filthy wild political arena of Pakistan.
Yesterday I learnt that our own Pakistani police have taken away ‘Imran Khan’, our hero the pride of nation,to put him behind bars. I thought we, the people of Pakistan are even shoddier than children of Hamelin. Our rulers are worse than kings of medieval period and these times for our nation are certainly the darkest, ruthless.
Who is Imran Khan? Why is he behind bars, on what charges? Which law has he broken?
Have we forgotten the history which is not so stale that he was the one who was asked by General Zia-ul-Haq to remain the captain of Pakistan’s cricket team after his resignation at his prime time? He was later asked by another General to join his dictatorial regime when he became a political leader. Imran Khan is not for sale. He is a priceless gem who stands for his ideology. As a cricketer he is the only one in history of Pakistan who brought fame to Pakistan by winning world cup title. He among all the celebrities was the first one who used his popularity in good cause by starting a very well developed charity hospital for cancer patients of Pakistan. And then he moved one step ahead to serve Pakistanis in all aspects at all costs, to clear the filth and debris and to restore the integrity dignity and supremacy of justice in Pakistan. He had everything money, fame, charisma but he left everything for a good cause not knowing that the field of politics is so disgustingly rotten and players are so padded up with corruption that neither his truthful bowling nor his insightful sixes would triumph him let alone be helpful in any ways.
I don’t know anything about politics except that it’s a no-no for a decent Pakistani. But I love Pakistan as whatever is I today, is because of my country. It’s my identity. When Tehreek-e-Insaaf was established I so much wanted to join it but my family strictly prohibited me. I have always been very concerned about the corruption and no healthy political movements in Pakistan. All nobles and dignified citizens keep themselves away from delving into serious political change and rectification of government institutions. Nobody wants to dirty their clean hands by jumping into it and people of Pakistan therefore would remain drowned, suffocated, complaining, screaming and always looking for some Messiah to let them out from the heaps of corruption, nepotism, vulgarity, bigotry, distortion of information through state media, abuse of powers, use of arms and state atrocities. I believe that Imran is a ‘Merd-e-Momin’ a ‘shaheen’ of ‘Iqbal’ who took this bold step. He seemed to be so unafraid and unaware of the litter which he could face .He turned out to be a true believer of ‘Khudee’, a man of principles. And moreover it needs hell of a courage and fervor to drench your hand in gutter in order to make it dirt free for others.
His worst enemies could only find one scandal after scrupulous digging which was also before his arrival in politics and which also he accepted as one of his many mistakes that he committed like any other human being. The other criticism that he faces is that he knows nothing about politics. And thank God he knows nothing about dirty politics and abusing of power which is his quality not a disqualification as a leader for me and many naïve people like me.
The military dictator cum self selected President of Pakistan, his allies from urban Sindh and Punjab would be holding elections in January which they say will be ‘free and fair’. What a joke? Who are they ridiculing; the people of Pakistan, the western media or themselves? These could be free only in the true sense of abuse of state powers; the examples of which are already witnessed by the citizens of Karachi and the rest of the world in the form of unlawful arrests, harassment and violence against opposition leaders and local workers of various opposition parties by state machinery.
And the transparency and fairness of elections will be such that a blind would be able to see the well planned engineered rigging pre and post elections!
I therefore urge the conscientious Pakistanis wherever they are to grab their pen or laptops and start a movement to build a strong integral bridge of words which will prevent us from this ‘Tsunami’ of fascist military regime of Pakistan and take us to the other side of times where democracy rules. Let us not be the people of ‘Hamelin’ who deceived their savior the ‘Pied Piper’, but let us be the children of Hamelin who much farsighted then their elders did not follow the footsteps of their elders and followed the tunes of righteousness. And then they were taken to the land of happiness, a land of democracy where Martial law will be a forgotten tale of ‘Rats’.
one more thing to say in pakistan no constitution right now no human right nothing is there but still condition is not worst than jugrat, when leaders becomes barbarian constitution and other things will do nothing
Well done. Your article has been referred in a Pakistani website. We do have a few Imran hating people (polls suggest that they are less than 3% on that website) but they are very dodgy and they might come here and start posting rubbish against him.
Usually its a one or two people with so many fake ids. So be warned of lies that would be written on this website.
Let me assure you that we Pakistanis, at least 98%, whole heartedly support Imran Khan. And we thank you for writing nice things about him.
I am just coming from a rally in Imran’s support in London and it has shown me that people all over the world have great respect for Imran.
Imran is our hero. Thanks for supporting him. May God bless you. With all our efforts, Imran will find his right place soon. He is Prime minister in our hearts anyways.
Hats off to Imran loving Indians.
c’mon chetan, so you think Bangaloreans are not sensible or that only Mysoreans are sensible??…fyi, I am a Mysorean, give the credit where it is due, grow up Sir!
Good article. Imran is a politician but the biggest problem is that he
is an honest person too. Both, politics and honesty don’t go hand in hand.
Rajeeve’ letter above promote hate and prejudice. I do pray to God to give
him the strength to denounce hate and prejudice.
Regards,
I don’t know what sort of Mysorean Chetan K is…But I am happy to say I am not that ‘sort’ of Mysorean he wants us all to be. Thank you.
Well thought eassay. I hope the rest of the indians were this thoughtful as you are.
Imran is anyday better than our Former PM aka Mannina Maga. I would prefer a PM who screws beautiful filmstars and heiresses rather than the people.
If this is the ‘state-of-the-art thinking’ from IT types like Alok to solve our political problems, no wonder people are upset with IT practitioners:)
Going by the same logic, why not Afzal Guru or even Dr. Haneef? They are honest in their own chosen selective ways.
“Imagine, for a moment, Partition never happened.
Imagine, for a moment, an Indian cricket team with Imran, Javed Miandad, Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, in the same XI.”
The article is well written, better than most that appear here. But, What is with the misty eyed romanticism that borders on idol worship? The article is a great exemplar of how myths are born.
Imran Khan has immense presence, a presence that may or may not point to leadership qualities. But, to merely eulogize without peeking into his tress pases makes this seem more like a PR job.
Let us not forget, that it was Imran Khan who instigated the world wide violence that followed the incident where some moron flushed the Koran down the toilet. This does not make Imran any better than the right and left wing thugs in our country. It is rather silly to makes heroes out of those that can pitch a ball at 90 miles an hour, or for that matter those that can throw it down a hoop 99 times out of 100.
The partition was a good thing for both India and Pakistan. Yes, a million died, but, at least, it saved millions more from what would have followed had India and Pakistan been one country. Humans are innately divisive, violent and cruel. A unified India and Pakistan is a disaster waiting to happen.
Alok should write more often.
Alok, Nice try , for all the good qualities espoused he is still hasnt been tested post getting some power in his hands… all this nice posturing might be of zero value once the power bug bites him, we have seen this happening time and again across countries and cultures.
If Imran khan were or will be president of India. Then Pakistan and India will be one state. and there will be one cricket team. Coach will be imran khan too.
Atif,
You forgot to add: we will have the best jihadis in the universe!
Whatever atif says – that is reason enuf for hoping that Imran khan or any of his ilk will not become president of india – or even that of pakistan.
Imran Khan was a great cricketer and captain who led the Pakistani team to Test victories over West Indies, England and in the ’92 World Cup. He is a winner. Now he seems like a honest politician who cares for the masses and therefore deserves a chance to prove himself as PM of Pakistan – not India. He may prove to be a winner for Pakistan in politics also.
As a Pakistani Nationalist and someone who admires Imran Khan greatly I agree with a lot of what this article has to say.
Unfortunately however, to my greatest regret, Imran Khan is not secular. His politics is very definitely hinged on his idea of Islam and it is his constant support of Mullahs that has come to bite him in the ass at PU where he was stabbed in the back by the Mullahs of Jamiat-e-Tulaba wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, age old enemies of Pakistan.
I agrred 100% with the writer. Such a great job by wrting abut such a phenomenal person in histroy of human being. I think he is capable enough to lead indian sub continent.
His legacy shows thats he has the ability to change this poor part of world to most developed part ever existed.
He is a man of principle. I think he is one of three best men in history of indian subcontinent, with Ghandi and Jinnah.
best wishes for writer
well you people have made the perception that a fundamentalist muslim start killing every day all the people without discrimination .the fact is ..a Muslim who is fundamentalist abide by the rules of ALLAH and he cannot do what a non fundamentalist people (OR SO MUSLIM ) doing in the name of fundamentalism………..I M FUNDAMENTALIST MUSLIM because i know my religion teaches me mercy with all the humans without discrimination…….although i hate INDIA…….it is not a muslim …it is FUNDAMENTALIST HINDU that is teaching fundamentalism killing muslim in the name terroris..i have a video in which many hindu students were brutally beating muslim student in calcutta college…….
and nice to see IMRAN KHAN in this article………and do note that ……..IMRAN KHAN IS THE GREAT FUNDAMENTALIST MUSLIM …AND A GREAT LEADER
Imran Khan would definitely be a great rolemodel for womanisers.
Great article. I have great hope for Pakistanis, I’m writing 4 years this article was first written and I can tell you, I have not lost that hope. Pakistanis have now truely found their leader. He will win the next election Inshallah