Thanks for your thoughtful response but you clearly assumed too much and missed the whole point of my post.
IK as a person means nothing to me but his struggle, honesty and work is what matters to me. Tomorrow if I find someone more honest, corruption free and a more sensible politician I will be happy to vote for the new saviour. But for now, there is no one else in the political system to lead and exemplify a movement and stature like IK does.
FYI, I bought the bat at the Namal auction many years back and since there are no more items in the market with IK signatures many have chosen to donate previously purchased items and sell them again to raise funds. I can assure you NAMAL is well taken care of financially without my bat and I know many who donate up to $50,000 every fundraiser.
You missed the point because having his bat has nothing to do with " Mera sardar, meri zaat, mera Imran Khan" . Perhaps if you care to search you will notice that people vote outside the zaat and baradaris when it comes to vote for IK. There is a reason why overwhelming educated and young people vote for Ik because they don’t believe in this zaat and baradari nonsense.
You are somewhat right when you say that " meanwhile the man who supposedly talks to Riyasat e Medina has followers who think of status acts... I am the most devoted. My honor and identity is tied to this man."
I dedicate much of my ethical and moral standing today because of my "following" to this man as a teacher. Allah has blessed me with more than what I deserved or ever dreamt of. In my profession where the insurance and billing are at my discretion and where the treatment provided is hardly ever questioned and I don’t really have to explain the work I perform; I have learned to be honest and never ever charge a dollar more than what is allowed to or do any work which is not required or fair.
I learned a lot listening and following IK and I am not ashamed to admit that.
As for your man vs idea comments, Bhutto is still very much alive and his corrupt life and unmatched destruction of our industry and institutes is practiced everywhere in Sindh. Infact his name will never die because his very name personifies corruption and his followers practice and glorify haram.
Ik is the exact opposite. And I do hope more people will follow his life style and principles to rid themselves of corruption and nepotism.
Your criticism of IK government is somewhat valid but I will blame much on inexperience, lack of political maturity, mostly Bajwa the snake being trusted and yes incompetence of ministers etc. The list is too long. However, three years is hardly a long enough time to grow a tree but you expected that tree to mature and fruits to be abundantly available. As if the generals were not conspiring to fail him, he also had COVID to deal with as well.
In short, I look at the bat and I thank it for making may be not the system but me a better , more ethical and caring person, someone who relates and feels pain of the poor and someone who despises corruption……you know why because that bat has a picture of IK on it!
You do see the contradiction in your post.
"IK means nothing to me as a person"… then why the bat? Right there and then you are hypocritical - perhaps to your own self consciousness.
You open by saying IK as a person means nothing to you and only his principles do.
I respect that framing.
But then you close by saying you look at a bat with
his picture on it and feel gratitude for becoming a better person.
Not a picture of justice.
Not a symbol of anti-corruption.
His face.
That's not following an idea but venerating a man.
The massive gap between those two statements is worth highlighting here.
Then another very high minded ideal (appreciated) You say you'd vote for someone better tomorrow if they existed. That's a rational, admirable position.
But notice what happens every time his failures come up and how you are responding: Bajwa, COVID, inexperience, short timeline, conspiring generals.
Every exit is blocked.
This hypothetical better leader never gets a real chance to exist because the current one's shortcomings are
always someone else's fault. IK cannot be flawed to you so YOU WILL NEVER SEE A BETTER LEADER... ZInda hai Bhutto ZInda hai all over again. Messiah, cult - and then it gets more acerbic.
Saying you are replacing tribal loyalty with leader loyalty isn't the same as replacing it with
principled thinking. Educated people form cults too and they just call them
movements.
None of this means IK hasn't done good or that your values aren't real. They clearly are. But the bat with his face on it isn't a symbol of an idea and the moment your ethics need a face on them to stay alive...you can figure where this goes.