"Shoe-cide attack"

Well guess you people would have already seen it and spoken about it - I am talking about the 'Great Indian Shoe Trick' ;) or you can call it 'shoe-cide attack' as my title goes! In fact I was one of the thousands watching the live telecast of the Home Minister's speech when this incident happened.

Incident: The Indian Home Minister P. Chidambadam was delivering the Congress's promise of effective handling of terrorism if they win the elections. Immediately after this addressing there was the Q&A session, and this is when the shameful act took place. A journalist named Jarnail Singh staged a protest regarding the 'Jagadish Tytler issue' and about the CBI giving him a clean chit. To this the home minister replied back that this was not a political forum to raise such issues, and Jarnail singh in an emotional outburst hurled his shoe at the home minister! The reply from the home minister was commendable in the fact that he didn't get aggitated rather he calmly asked the security to escort Jarnail Singh out of the conference gently!

Well all said and done, there are many questions that come to a common man's mind:

• Was Jarnail Singh in that conference only to raise the issue of jagadish tytler?
• Was this a plot to spoil the decorum of the Congress's press meeting?

Repercursion:

• Jarnail Singh was immediately taken to prison but released a short while later. He then expressed his regret to what he had done. He even said that being a journalist it was not right on his part to behave that way, and that the mode of protest was wrong but he still requests the issue of the 1984 riots not be politicised.
• There was news about Akali Dal deciding to felicitate Jarnail Singh with money for this act of his.
• The media made a nice issue out of it by showing the video a hundred times throughout the day and started raising their own questions on whether this act would affect the voting pattern and whether Jarnail Singh shoed away the congress in this election.

On the lighter side, A Comparison between the Chidambaram shoe-attack and Bush shoe-attack

• Journalist involved in both cases
• The Bush attack was done with a formal leather shoe, whereas the Chidambaram attack was done with a jogger
• The Bush-attacker was sentenced to 3 years in jail whereas the Chidamabaram-attacker was released in less thatn 3 hours!
• Bush responded with humour whereas Chidamabaram responded calmly!