By: Mehr Jan Gidaan TV
Terming gatherings a waste of time without setting national goals distinguishes him from ordinary politicians. He was never opposed to a political party with a “national objective”. Regular meetings were also held in this regard. Sometimes, a manifesto was also brought up for discussion. But he did not agree with surface politics by setting a principled and national goal. Nor was he willing to take a step back from his clear position of “as a nationalist, I demand that Balochistan be liberated”. Because there is no form of freedom anywhere in the colonial state where politics is “facilitated” with a clear and principled stance. He was well aware that in surface politics, talking beyond the true spirit of nationalism and setting national goals can be a waste of time. It could be billed as conciliatory politics, but will lead to long-term national losses, which cannot be remedied in a national context. History is witness that all his apprehensions were proved right one by one.
Big rallies and gatherings promoted politics as a business, politics and politicking instead of raising national consciousness. Instead of resistance, an atmosphere of dialogue was created, a negotiating camp was formed against the resistance camp, where the National Party was formed in the name of Pakistan. The constitution and democracy of the occupier emerged from this camp as well.
And finally, politics became a form of commerce here. In fact, like a political philosopher, he knew all the paths of power intervention and pointed out the intrusive forms of all the invisible and obscure forces that would stand in the way of real national goals.
Baba Marri’s politics was not like ordinary politicians fulfilling the hobby of political leadership through gatherings and under the guise of this help provide the writers a space to showcase their intellectualism. Unlike these politicians, he comes forth with a hardline principled stance and asks, “We could call ourselves Baloch but can we call ourselves Baloch nationalists?” Can we enter politics with an ideology and objective, national unity and national consciousness, constant commitment, rather than superficial politics or issue politics? Or are we destined to only make tall claims, make speeches in front of a gathering of thousands or thunder on a stage without any political program? These were the questions that Baba Marri repeatedly put in front of the empty-minded political leadership in a level-headed manner without any clamor, because for him nationalism is not just a political program but also a discipline.
But in response, they always avoided giving a direct answer. In fact, Nawab Marri, through his thoughts and actions, made such a standard of Baloch nationalism that a person can be a Baloch but not every Baloch can be a nationalist. That is why writing on nationalism, speaking on nationalism, holding gatherings in the name of nationalism is very interesting and attractive, but it is not easy to be a true nationalist when it comes to walking the talk, especially in a colonial state. It requires being radical and dedicating one’s life, then it becomes possible to defend the motherland. According to Baba Marri, “it takes one to observe a chilla” or else spending time propagating nationalism to achieve individual interests is “professionalism rather than nationalism”. According to him, “In the politics of nationalism, it is necessary for the political leaders and workers of a nation which has a revolutionary program or a long-term program, to be strong-willed and principled. The simple and superficial style of politics and issue-based politics can only be referred to as politics, but not nationalism.”
How many of us today have looked into what extent nationalist we ourselves are? And how many people have we prepared intellectually and practically for the path of nationalism so that they can stand their ground consistently in the face of power? In Baba Marri’s words, a gathering of thousands can increase the prestige of the current party leadership, but how many of these thousands of people in the crowd and on the stage are radical and sincere and how many are honest in character and action? Instead of contemplating on these questions, debating, explaining the political program beyond populism, reviewing the constitution, parliament and laws of the occupier in the national context, while making templates and putting opponents in the moulds.
According to Baba Marri, “broaden your study”, reassess your policies in a colonial context, examine ideologies on the ground realities, reflect on every word, take a few moments in the competitive race and go through the process of introspection. Instead of burning in the fire of stubbornness and ego, show some patience, rehearse in the political field and then do politics. But on the contrary, they used to cast aspersions on him, terming him to be devoid of any political acumen while blaming him for looking at the political situation through tribal lenses. He is a simple man who does not understand the mood of the time. He has set limitations for himself politically.
He has moved away from the political process. Such things were commonly uttered about him. In fact, as per Baba Marri, they were at a loss to understand that politics is not just a sphere where only rallies and processions are conducted and resolutions are presented, but there are many other aspects of politics and the political process, where national consciousness develops, the nation is mentally prepared for practically contributing, where politics is discussed side by side with academic matters and the political process is determined in view of the objective circumstances, the path of resistance is paved. It is political immaturity to declare only the rallies and processions as political processes, which is expressed by these dim-witted people who are not even aware of the basics of politics themselves, who used to repeatedly say that Baba Marri has retired from the political field. But if we look where the movement stands today, we will come to know which political cadre was working behind it, then everything becomes crystal clear that whether political understanding was meant to achieve personal interests, to occupy the stage or to promote the national goal?
Baba Marri’s standard of nationalism has always been called a radical approach by the colonial mindset, who forget that radicalism is the first condition for the rise of any political movement, a little away from the world of philosophy and research.
All the revolutions in the world or revolutionary political thinkers have gone through, they have entered the regular political arena in a dignified manner with radical sensitivity. It is nothing but self-deception and self-defeat to make common contradictions the center and axis beyond the fundamental contradiction. Entering the political arena with hollowness is tantamount to committing injustice against the political movement, especially the national movement. Today, the word radical has been desecrated by academic and post-modernist parrots through literal juggling. The only reason is to distort the concepts of ideology, resistance, revolution, and freedom. That only those with emotions preach radicalism, resistance, revolution, ideology and freedom, whereas on the contrary, imperialism has linked any color of slavery to rationality without any ideology, resistance and revolution on the basis of a soft image.
That is, the struggle to rationalize every color of slavery continues from the media to academia, so that the atmosphere of reconciliation is restored instead of resistance. That is why, according to Baba Marri, “We could not openly call the occupier an occupier”, because here to call the occupier an occupier is called radicalism or regression, just as “spitting in the face of imperialism is called terrorism”. Now the tactics of slavery are taught in the schools of imperialism, which are intended to be resisted, we have decided to learn the lesson of slavery from them, that is, now the imperialist and imperialist institutions have started teaching us how to resist. They are working day and night to propagate and promote the soft image of resistance by raising pleasing slogans like peace, parliament, constitution and law, judiciary in our minds and vocabulary where the emotions cool down and the resistance changes its color and style in its raw form and loses its material strength and breadth. That’s why Baba Marri used to call things like these “subservient demands”.
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