Is U-turn the right turn?

The Quaid-e-Azam once criticised the Congress and a correspondent asked him: “Oh, you were also in the Congress once.” Jinnah at once replied, “Oh, my dear friend, at one time I was in a primary school as well!”

Jinnah, once a proponent of Hindu-Muslim unity, realised that the Congress could not champion the Muslim cause. He changed his opinion and joined the Muslim League, from where he fought for the cause of Pakistan. If we were to re-write history without the so-called U-turns, Jinnah would have never left the Congress and there would be no Pakistan.



After all, not all U-turns are wrong!

Political U-turns, sometimes also known as flip-flops or backflips, are a sudden change in opinion of a politician. These are generally frowned upon in politics, as they seemingly depict inconsistency in politicians’ behaviours and are often used by opponents for indiscreet bashing. Media generally is also quick to highlight such inconsistencies to make sensational news.

But should we treat all U-turns the same way? Can a U-turn be the right turn? Imran Khan’s recent statement that a leader who doesn’t take a U-turn is not a real leader has made this discussion quite relevant.

U-turns could take many forms. I have put them into four categories, though the list perhaps can be expanded.

The first are the ‘white lies’, which pertain to misstating or hiding straight facts. Often when politicians are confronted with difficult situations or tough questions, they resort to this category.

The second are the most common U-turns and we can call them ‘political baits.’ These are electoral promises which politicians generally make without any intention to fulfil. Shehbaz Sharif’s rhetoric to pull Asif Zardari through the streets qualifies for this category.

Similarly, the PPP’s manifesto of 2008 promised a sound debt policy, ensuring that future generations would not be burdened with excessive debt. During the PPP tenure, however, the total government debt more than doubled. The PML-N’s manifesto in 2013 criticised the PPP government and promised to keep the public debt at sustainable levels. But the debt grew by another 80% during the following five years.

The third category of ‘unfulfilled dreams’ is about promises that could not be fully honoured despite trying. Shehbaz Sharif’s promise to end load-shedding in six months could be one example where the government did try to increase power generation but the timeline of the promise was too unrealistic.

The fourth and the final category is something that I would term ‘change of heart,’ where a politician genuinely changes his opinion based on new information or perspective. This, in fact, can be a good U-turn, provided that one is not compromising on his principles.

Outside politics, such U-turns are often appreciated. A scientist for instance can change his opinion with only one piece of new evidence contradicting his years of research and will still not be blamed for taking a U-turn.



Imran Khan’s decisions to seek help from China and Saudi Arabia and to go in for an IMF programme, in fact, fall under this category. The government after taking stock of the economic situation came to the same conclusion that scores of analysts had been suggesting: there was no way out of this quagmire. Similarly the prime minister’s decision to go for a compromise with the TLP after a fiery speech was a manifestation of his realisation of the stakes involved.

Giovanni Andreottola recently wrote a paper on political U-turns and came to the conclusion that while flip-flopping can be detrimental to a politician’s reputation and can make him stick to his initial policy choice, it may lead to inefficient decisions and can be damaging in terms of policy welfare. So while white lies and political baits are right to be frowned at, change of heart actually depicts moral courage and should, in fact, be appreciated and not unduly criticised.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2018.

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