Character assassination: Failed weapon to affect politicians’ popularity

Politicians in Pakistan have always complained of being a victim of character assassination by their political rivals, however, the national and global events written in the history have proved that the ‘weapon’ did not affect their popularity level among the masses.

In the latest event, former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan expressed suspicions that his rivals are busy preparing material for his character assassination among the masses and even marketing companies are being hired for the filthy politics and fifth-generation warfare.

He expressed fear that sophisticated applications would be used to spread deepfake videos against him, whereas, Imran Khan directly named the Sharif family and blamed them for having mastery in personal level attacks.

However, the historical event proves something else as such attempts of character assassination do nothing with the popularity level of several politicians and other celebrities except in some cases.

Clinton-Lewinsky scandal

A political, sex scandal involving former US President Bill Clinton and 24-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky had taken place in 1998 as their sexual relationship lasted between 1995 and 1997 which led to his impeachment by the House of the Representatives for lying about her relationship.

A Center survey taken shortly after Clinton’s Jan. 26, 1998, denial of the affair allegations found that 71% of Americans approved of how he was handling his job as president, 10 percentage points higher than a survey taken just before the scandal broke. Clinton benefited from widespread support for his policies and scepticism about the media’s coverage of the allegations, according to Pew Research.

While that initial boost faded over time, Clinton’s approval rating in August 1998 was still a robust 62%, where it remained for months – throughout his admission of the affair, the release of the Starr report and the opening of impeachment proceedings. Clinton’s approval hit 71% again in mid-December, after the House voted to impeach him.

Clinton’s impeachment process was generally unpopular, according to Center surveys during that time. Roughly three-in-ten or fewer Americans supported impeaching Clinton throughout autumn 1998 and even into mid-December, just before the House did so anyway. Only later in 1999, after Clinton had been acquitted, did retrospective support for impeaching him reach a high of 44%. (Note that question-wording on this issue differed by survey, so direct comparisons are imperfect.)

The Center’s results were consistent with polling by other organizations, which typically found between a quarter and a third of Americans favouring Clinton’s impeachment. That contrasted with the Watergate situation, which saw public support for Nixon’s impeachment steadily rise as more and more was learned about the scandal.

It was also said that Clinton enjoyed massive public support after John F Kennedy.

Rajiv Gandhi

Gandhi was from the politically powerful Nehru–Gandhi family, which had been associated with the Indian National Congress party. Gandhi reluctantly entered politics at the behest of Indira in 1980, whereas, he was dubbed as Mr Clean during his tenures.

However, he remained surrounded by many scandals and faced multiple character assassination attempts by his political rivals regarding his alleged sexual relationships but he enjoyed a massive public following in India until a major dent to his clean image through the Bofors scandal, a weapons-contract political scandal.

Rajiv Gandhi’s last public meeting was on 21 May 1991, at Sriperumbudur village, present-day Chennai, where he was assassinated via a bomb explosion while campaigning for the Sriperumbudur Lok Sabha Congress candidate.

Benazir Bhutto

The first woman prime minister of Pakistan and the daughter of ex-PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) slain chairwoman Benazir Bhutto late, has also faced terrible character assassination by her political rivals.

Political opponents used obscene photos of Benazir Bhutto late to let down her public image, however, they failed to get what they want to achieve.

During her tenures, Benazir Bhutto was given a huge public support and even after her ouster from the public office till now for setting precedent of popular political moves.

Nawaz Sharif

Former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Quaid Nawaz Sharif had also faced same attempts of character assassination as his political rivals used different media mediums to spread reports of the recovery of objectionable objects from their residences and offices.

The Sharif family also faced allegations of having illicit relations for political benefits, whereas, some segments claimed that a showbiz couple reached divorce due to the Sharif politicians.

Imran Khan

Former prime minister Imran Khan had also faced multiple attempts of character assassination by Ayesha Gulalai and his former wife Reham Khan in the shape of her book.

However, Imran Khan has a massive public following so far.

Imran Khan recently expressed suspicions that his rivals are busy preparing material for his character assassination among the masses and even marketing companies are being hired for the filthy politics and fifth-generation warfare.

He expressed fear that sophisticated applications would be used to spread deepfake videos against him, whereas, Imran Khan directly named Sharif family and blamed them for having mastery in personal level attacks.