Abstract
This study aims to explore how a political leader can propagate his ideology through the tactful use of language. This paper critically analyzes the speech of Imran Khan - Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaaf (PTI), a major political party in Pakistan - which he delivered from Shoukat Khanam hospital two days prior to the general elections (2013) in Pakistan. The researchers have attempted to uncover the ideologies which worked behind the given speech. It has been investigated how different linguistic tools have been used to project or achieve political power/objectives. The selected speech has been analyzed qualitatively using the analytical framework of Fairclough which he proposed in 1995 and with the help of other tools, e.g. referential strategies, repetition, word choice, positive self-representation and negative other representation, to study how specific words and phrases carry power to transform the perception and political views of the people. It was found that political discourse is often deliberately crafted to project specific ideologies, which are always located in the discourse in an implicit way. Moreover, politicians employ certain linguistic strategies to persuade people to follow their hidden agendas. It may be suggested that the codes and symbols of political discourse must be explored to make it easy for the common people.