Couple of days ago, a student pleaded helplessness in the class, asking what a single person can do to change the current deplorable political system, where there is no accountability. I replied to her in right earnest that the start has to be made by every individual, which will, over a period of time, result in a wave that will bring sweeping changes.
The very next day, the SHOE incident happened. Taking inspiration from the Iraqi journalist, our own Jarnail Singh, had a go at the Home Minister of India, P Chidambaram with his shoe.
Now, PC is a decent politician. But he is representing a rotten system. A system that pays scant regard to natural justice but obfuscated, dithered, did every dirty trick in the book to prevent justice from being meted out to the perpetrators of the anti Sikh riots in 1984.
The CBI has been misused to serve the political end of the ruling party. The courts have delayed the trial to such an extend that 25 years after the incident, no one has been booked. That is quarter of a century.
“My manner of protest might have been wrong, but I did not intend to hurt anyone,” Jarnail Singh said, adding: “For the last 25 years this has been happening. So what other method is left (to protest).”
The last sentence is striking. A common man feels helpless. There is no use electing the opposition. They are as bad as the current rulers. He cant go to the Police, for fear of being victimized. The Judiciary used to be sympathetic, but the process is so painfully slow that one can, does, get away with murder (Afzal Guru is a classic case in point). The Media doesnt care a damn.
So it is left to showing protest in a simple way. Throw Chappals and Shoes.
In the immediate aftermath of the shoe throwing incident, there were rumours of Congress taking the moral high road and dumping Tytler and Sajjan Kumar from its candidates list. But the politicians know that the media and the people live in an era where yesterdays news is forgotten quickly. All it needs is a small sensational news the next day, and people will go after that.
But the political parties have been put on notice. The outpouring support to Jarnail Singhs actions is testimony to the pent up frustrations within the people.
The golden dawn will break once again.
