By IANS,
Islamabad : A phenomenon “typically requiring the presence of one of more political personages and a crowd of media persons” is likely to often recur, a tongue in cheek editorial in a Pakistani daily said Thursday, referring to a shoe being tossed at Indian Home Minister P. Chiddambaram by a Sikh journalist in New Delhi.
The combination of politicians and journalists “produces a kind of flux from which is expelled an example of the common shoe. The shoe appears to be inexplicably drawn towards the political personage and invariably misses”, The News said.
The editorial was quite appropriately headlined “Shoe showers”.
“Scientists believe that politicians exude a catalytic vapour, a concentration of which builds up in the room where they are ensconced with the media people resulting in the fluxion referred to and the spontaneous fall of shoes.
“Given the frequency with which the elements (politicians and the press) which produce this effect occur, it is not unreasonable to assume that we will see showers of shoes more frequently in the future.
“Sales of shoe-proof vests are expected to rise, likewise the sale of socks; as journalists may find that a prerequisite of attendance at any future press conference is the removal of their shoes,” the editorial maintained.
Jarnail Singh, a reporter with the Dainik Jagran newspaper, Tuesday tossed a sports shoe at Chidambaram during a briefing at the Congress party headquarters because he was dissatisfied with the minister’s reply to a question on the punishment being handed to the perpetrators of the anti-Sikh riots that followed the Oct 31, 1984 assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi.
Singh later apologised, saying the manner of protest was wrong but the cause was right.
The Delhi Police didn’t press charges against the journalist after the minister “forgave” him.