Well, expression of opinion in India has a new format. It’s imported from a war-torn country in the Middle East; and now India is accepting it with open arms. Oh yes; I am talking about the latest mode of expressing dissent – shoe throwing. It all started with the famous George Bush episode – when an enraged Iraqi journalist threw a shoe at the US President who was on his farewell tour to Iraq. The strong anti-American sentiment that resonates all across the Middle east made sure that this journalist became an instant hero in the Arab households; so much so that the model of that shoe which was thrown at the President had a sudden surge in demand all across the Middle East. It heralded the arrival of the latest means of expressing anger at the politicians.

Fast forward it to Elections 2009 in India. As in many other cases, we have accepted something bad from the outside world with a zeal that’s unparallel. First it was a journalist throwing his shoes at Home Minister Chidambaram. Then it was a retired school teacher throwing one at Navin Jindal. And then came one from a disgruntled party worker on the Leader of Opposition Advani. I would have assumed that the security forces in the country would have woken up to this new format of protest now that Mr. Advani has been attacked. No; I was badly mistaken. It happened again. This time it was at the Prime Minister himself. That says a few things about how strong our security establishment is, right? What more should happen before these shoe-attacks come to an end? What if instead of the shoe, it was some sort of an explosive that these fools would have thrown at the leaders? In the first place, how did these people manage to throw these things at them; when there is high security all around them? These are questions that the security agencies should ask themselves and find solutions. I am no expert in this; and hence have no solutions as well.

My problem in all of this is the lack of deterrence towards an action like this in our country. When the Iraqi journalist threw a shoe at the US President, he was immediately caught and a legal procedure was initiated against him. That acted as deterrence to the entire episode and we never heard of any more attacks of the same vain happening in the Middle East. What happened in India was completely opposite. Here the people attacked asked the security forces not to take action on these folks; and they were left free. What the f***?? What are these people trying to portray – that they are the neo-incarnations of Mahatma Gandhi? The politicians have stooped themselves to such low levels in the eyes of the common man that an “act of pardon” is not going to make any difference. I won’t be surprised if we come to a stage where bets are going around amongst friends on whether you would be able to throw shoes at some leaders.

This madness has to come to an end. I am sure that there are better ways of expressing your anger and distrust towards the political class in this country. A counter argument would be that the politicos of the country are so bad that they deserve the shoes. But then for me, two wrongs doesn’t make one right…