Shoe thrown at P. Chidambaram

I have a feeling that this is just the beginning, along with the demonstrations and burning of effigies.

CBI did a very bad thing. We are in our 25th year in search of justice.

I have a feeling…

Protests have started. Trains are being stopped in Punjab. There was already I think a rally in Delhi. Sikhs should make it impossible for Sajjan and Tytler to get out of their houses.

hi,
I want to say that not only Jarnail singh But every sikh is unhappy with this decisions. But the man who did not able to control his anger showed his anger in front of everybody. I quoted ur blog for the contest going on
http://toostep.com/idea/best-blogs-covering-p-chidambaram—jarnail-singh-shoe-down

[...] bookmarks tagged shoe Shoe thrown at P. Chidambaram | Writing Cave saved by 2 others     hakabish03 bookmarked on 04/09/09 | [...]

I think most of the Indian politician need to get this. Joote padne hi chahiye inko

I have been following this story in the news media for the last so many days. It is a matter of profound shame for us as a nation that a civilised, educated person like Mr Jarnail Singh had to resort to such an act to draw attention to the heinous crimes that were committed so many years ago. Like most people in this country I was outraged at this act. But then, I sat back and reflected on this individual’s actions. I even saw the footage of the shoe throwing from another angle. Mr Jarnail Singh actually gently tossed the shoe in the direction of the Home Minister. The sole intention was to register a protest. Just compare the footage to that of the Iraqi gentleman hurling his shoe at President Bush. Had Mr Bush not been quick in ducking, those shoes would have given him a very nasty bruise on his head!

The Sikh community has been a model of patience for all these years in the solemn belief that ultimately, in this country, Justice will be done, that Truth shall prevail. After all, it’s inscribed on our national seal, isn’t it, ‘Satyamev Jayate”!! What does this community, or rather, every concerned, outraged citizen irrespective of colour, caste, creed or religion do after the premier investigative agency of the Government of India declares that a gentleman who has been accused of some of the most heinous massacres in the history of our nation, supported by numerous eye-witness accounts, is as innocent as a new born baby??! We are talking of India, the largest democracy in the world as we like to proudly proclaim, not some banana republic in Africa or South America.

So after twenty five long years after the deed has been done, there is still no justice and now the Government is making pathetic attempts at brushing the embarrassing truth under the carpet. What does a citizen, who was banking on the inherent sense of fairness enshrined in the Constitution of this Nation to grant him and thousands like him closure, do??! The flinging of the shoe is symbolic. It is a primal scream. It is the reaction of a man who has been reduced to a state of helplessness, because the State, on which he was banking to deliver Justice, is colluding with the perpetrators to deny him his rights. In the process, they have trivialized the deaths of those thousands of men and women, young and old, who died horrible deaths on the streets of New Delhi that fateful day in 1984.

I am not a Sikh. But my anger against the perpetrators of this crime and other genocides in this Nation knows no bounds. As a civilized person, there is absolutely no justification for any crime out of hate. And yet, we find people, responsible, educated people trying to justify this! What a shame! Rajiv Gandhi in my opinion is no better than Reinhard Heydrich for his infamous remarks in the aftermath of these riots :- “When a big tree falls, the earth beneath is bound to shake.” Heydrich disposed of Jews in an equally euphemistic and unrepentant phrase that he coined, “The Final Solution!”

So is the case of Gujarat. We in India are a shameless lot, inured to this ghastly game of hate between various communities, requiring just the smallest excuse and sometimes, no excuse at all to revert to being bloodthirsty savages. It is a history lesson that we refuse to learn in spite of all the terrible things that we have done to ourselves over the years. Because we were angry with Jinnah for splitting the nation, we killed all the Muslims that we could lay hands on, and they killed all the Hindus that they could lay their hands on in a gigantic orgy of bloodletting unparalleled in History. Even the SS Death Squads would have been put to shame by the zealous and methodical slaughter on both sides of the border. In 1948, a Brahmin killed Mahatma Gandhi, so all the Brahmins in Pune were fair game. In 1984, it was the turn of the Sikhs. In 1993, Mr Ibrahim got away with the Bombay blasts. We could not lay a finger on him or any of his henchmen, but we killed as many defenceless Muslims as we could lay our hands on. In Godhra, we punished the entire Muslim population of a state for the misdeeds of a few miscreants. Naroda Patiya became more infamous than Godhra. What an irony! We do not even hesitate to burn little children alive, as in the case of Graham Staines and his sons in Orissa. Our curse is, we forget! We forget very easily. Human life in this country is too cheap. And all of us, including us conscientious, outraged idiots who sit in the safety of our homes and pass judgment on lesser mortals, are to blame for the things that have come to pass.

I was told by a reliable source, that in the late seventies, a young college student named Paresh Baruah along with a few friends was touring the whole of India trying to raise awareness about the seriousness of illegal immigration of Bangladeshis across the border into Assam. In a planned, advertised meeting in Hyderabad, legend has it that only seven concerned citizens spared time to listen to the passionate young man. I’m sure that so would have been the case wherever he went in the rest of the country. What would he deduce from this? That nobody gave a damn as to what happened to him and his cause!! As a consequence, a potentially political movement became ULFA, a virulent separatist movement against which the Indian Armed Forces are still fighting.

All it takes for someone to take up arms against the establishment is that dreadful, helpless feeling where there is no light at the end of the tunnel. And if after 25 years, you still cannot bring the perpetrators of the 1984 riots to book, can you even gauge the emotions of the thirty year old who lost his parents that day and is waiting for justice even today?! Justice has to be done, and more importantly, it has to be in full public view. This not only gives a sense of closure to the victims, but also reinforces the rule of law. It tells potential offenders, don’t do it, the State is coming after you! For the sake of the unity of this nation, it is imperative that the Judiciary takes a proactive role in prosecuting these cases. We need closure to 1984, to the Gujarat riots and may no mercy be shown to the perpetrators, whichever political party they may be allied to. Not just Priyadarshini Mattu and Jessica Lall are crying out for justice from their graves. Judicial activism has to go beyond these individual cases. Thousands of nameless, faceless victims are calling us from the beyond, exhorting us not to fail them. It is our solemn duty as citizens not to forget them and to remember their sacrifice always and forever, so that a day like that never occurs again in the history of our nation. Is the Supreme Court listening?!!

Just one question: how to add your blog into my rrs reader, thanks so much.