Saying it with the foot
17 April 2009
Saying it with the foot is an insult across cultures, but it can be safely left to Indians to distil any in-your-face form of protest to its essence — especially if it comes straight from the heart. By Jagdeep Worah
As another turbulent election comes upon the country, Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi has gifted the Indian public a form of protest uniquely suited its ethos. Muntazer, who suddenly popularised the footwear-chucking form of protest by flinging both his shoes, along with an abuse, at former US president George W Bush, would have hardly suspected that he had started a trend in India, as he seems to have done. (See: Bush discovers WMD in Baghdad - no consolation prize, though)
Saying it with the foot is an insult across cultures, but it can be safely left to the Indians to distil any in-your-face form of protest to its essence. Moreover, local copycats of al-Zaidi - widely regarded as a martyr for his beleaguered country – are probably encouraged by the fact that they are unlikely to be seriously prosecuted.
Both Muntazer and Martin Jahnke, the Cambridge researcher who flung his shoe at Chinese premier Wen Jiabao (See: Wen follows Bush; escapes shoe missile at Cambridge) during a visit to the UK in March, are behind bars. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was also aimed at by a street-side protestor on his way to an election rally in Urmia late last year. The name and fate of his assailant seem buried in mystery.
Early this year, 10 Downing Street – the official residence of UK prime minister Gordon Brown – was pelted by hundreds of protesters with old footwear; but the missiles got no further than the fence, even as the cops stood by tolerantly.
Jarnail Singh, the journalist who created waves by flinging his right sneaker at home minister P Chidambaram, (See: After Bush and Jiabao, Chidambaram gets the boot) too walks free – but under a rather different political and social culture. He has been sacked from his newspaper, but has received lucrative job offers from Sikh-oriented political parties.
To his credit, Singh has so far refused all such offers, having steadfastly maintained from the start that his was not a political protest but merely a cry for justice. He also admitted that he was aiming to miss. Yet he managed to focus public attention on the 1984 massacre of Sikhs in and around the capital, and himself single-handedly ensured the sacking of two sure-fire but tainted Congress candidates – Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar – from an immediate Lok Sabha seat.
