History repeated itself once again on June 6. Sunil Kumar, a 40 year-old man, was arrested for threatening Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi with a shoe at a press conference
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History repeated itself once again on June 6. Sunil Kumar, a 40 year-old man, was arrested for threatening Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi with a shoe at a press conference. He claimed to represent Navsanchar Patrika, a fortnightly career magazine published from Jhunjhunu, a town in Rajasthan. There are debates on whether he is a journalist or not but the fact remains that once again somebody used a method of protest that seems to have been in vogue for the last of couple of years.
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He may or may not be a journalist but his action once again questions that if showing or throwing shoes at our political leaders should at all be a method of protest.
It all started in 2008 in Baghdad when Iraqi scribe Muntazar Al-Zaidi hurled a shoe at former US President George Bush.
It stirred up a storm not only in the media but also evoked strong reactions from the common man. For days together newspapers, television channels and online sites argued for and against Al-Zaidi's action. Some senior journalists described the episode to be in bad taste and strongly criticised Zaidi saying that he had stretched the right to freedom of expression too far. These media gurus said that the proper way to protest would be to raise debates and public opinion.u00a0 No matter how much you hate a leader and his actions, throwing a shoe, according to them was in poor taste.
Right or wrong will remain debatable but surely Al-Zaidi has inspired many in the following year. Soon we had shoes hurled at Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and a few others.
Interestingly, it was not always journalists, who were throwing shoes at these political figures. For instance in 2009, a 27-year-old man hurled a shoe at Wen Jiabao and called him a dictator while the leader was addressing a crowd at the Cambridge University in the UK. It is clear that the question is not whether journalists should throw shoes at a press conference even when they completely disagree to what the leader's ideology, actions and speech. The bigger issue is if at all throwing shoes is acceptable as a means of expressing your disdain in this so-called civilised world?
The answer seems to vary. Many think that no matter what hurling shoes should not be an expression of anger.
However, for all those, who appreciated Al Zaidi, his action symbolises the common man's frustration. Maybe after so many instances, the political leaders should also do some soul searching and realise what makes a common man, throw a shoe at a leader, whom he elects with the hope of a better system and society.
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