Journalists report news. Today, a journalist became the news. The Dainik Jagran reporter, Jarnail Singh’s, act of lobbing his shoe at home minister P Chidambaram at a media conference, brought the profession and journalists to shame. I, as a journalist, felt bad.

Of course, Singh clearly did not want to harm the minister. He was sitting in the front row, and all he did was to lob, and not throw, the footwear at the minister. He did that saying he was protesting, but definitely this was not the way to protest. Clearly, a fine line had been breached. A bad day for the media.

Thankfully, some ground has been salvaged as Jarnail Singh regretted the incident. Appearing on NDTV and CNN-IBN news television channels in the night, he said he should have behaved as a journalist and not as an aggrieved Sikh at the press conference. He also said no one should follow what he did. He repeatedly said what he did was wrong.

Let’s remember here that the Iraqi journalist Montadher al-Zaidi, who threw two shoes at then US president George Bush in Baghdad did not repent is now in jail.

I am a journalist, and let me be very candid about this. Journalism, as a profession, though nowadays enjoys quite a bit of glamour, has its own share of unworthy elements. I have been asked many times why certain news items are reported in a particular way, whether there are vested interests at work, etc etc. The shoe attack has quite understandably led to jokes about journalists: “They anyway can’t write properly, now we know they can’t even throw a shoe properly.”

Five years back the celebrated New York Times itself had to admit that its reporter Jayson Blair had committed “acts of journalistic fraud”. He “misled readers and Times colleagues with dispatches that purported to be from Maryland, Texas and other states, when often he was far away, in New York. He fabricated comments. He concocted scenes. He lifted material from other newspapers and wire services.” (Full report in NYT.) He was asked to resign.

Sikh households destroyed in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination. Photo from Time magazine of Nov 1984. (Click photo for source of photo.)

Sikh households destroyed in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination. Photo from Time magazine of Nov 1984. (Click photo for source of photo.)

Background

Twenty-five years back, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards on Oct 31, 1984. By evening, Congress party activists took to streets to avenge the killing. People were chased and lynched, some had their hair set afire. Houses were looted and set ablaze. Women were attacked. All across the country, Sikhs were targeted. I was in Kerala, and there it was mainly in Kochi (then Cochin). Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar were among top Congress leaders who are said to have incited and encouraged activists to attack Sikhs.

Politicians taking people for granted

In the Chidambaram-Jarnail Singh incident, there is a larger issue involved. That’s the events leading up to the press conference incident. Look at Jarnail Singhas an individual, not as a journalist. The barrier is vulnerable against the force of emotion.

Congress was pushing the limits by letting Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar contest the Lok Sabha elections. Whether Tytler is guilty or not is one thing. In the eyes of the large community of Sikhs, the two are guilty. Politics is most often about perception than reality — a simple rule Congress chose to forget.

Now there is pressure on Congress to withdraw the Lok Sabha ticket to Tytler and Sajjan Kumar. If they do, a journalist’s shoe would seem to be more powerful than the proverbial pen. Now whether Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar contest or not, irreparable damage has been done.

All political parties must learn a lesson from this. They aren’t doing any service to anyone by dodging truth and popular sentiments. Success of democracy depends of committed and responsible politicians.

If politicians test the patience of people, they are also risking social unrest.