It is only in a jungle raj that a man who throws his shoes on somebody gets his rib and hand broken and subsequently tortured in the jail. It seems that there is no penal code, no civilized rule of law, no decency left in the country, where the erstwhile greatest power on the earth – the United States – introduced democracy.
Muntadhar al-Zaidi, a reporter for the TV channel Al-Baghdadia, did to the outgoing US President George W. Bush what was taught to him by the Americans. In a democracy throwing shoes, rotten eggs, tomatoes, paper-balls, etc. is a very common feature. And this practice is tolerated – and at times even relished – and nobody is jailed for it. In various Parliament and State Assemblies of India and other parts of the world – even in the West – it is a common practice. In mid-1990s legislators in the UP Assembly threw microphones on each other. One of the MLAs was seriously hit and the assembly was paralysed. Yet the legislator, who threw it, got no punishment whatsoever. After that incident most Assemblies have their microphones fixed on the benches meant for the MLAs to sit. However, the MPs and MLAs, be it in India or abroad, have not yet been barred from wearing shoes and chappals inside the House, though they repeatedly throw them at each other.
Cutting across the Shia-Sunni, Arab-non-Arab lines, Al-Zaidi overnight became a hero in the Muslim world. But inside Iraq he faced testing for alcohol and drugs to determine his state of mind. This is sheer nonsense. Al-Zaidi did his job in full sense and deliberately insulted the man, who along with his father is responsible for the massacre of more than 1.2 million Iraqis.
Throwing shoes is just a form of democratic protest. If a parliamentarian or legislator is not penalised for throwing shoes, paper-balls, etc. on each other, why should a journalist be arrested, jailed and penalised? Why is this talk of seven years, 11 years or 15 years imprisonment? Can there be two types of law for two sets of people – and that too in a democracy? After all, the shoes were hit not to injure Bush but only to mark protest against his policy in Iraq.
Al-Zaidi’s action can never be equated with that of the Sri Lankan soldier who in mid-1980s hit the then Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, during the latter’s visit to Colombo. Rajiv, along with the host Prime Minister, was inspecting a guard of honour, when he was hit by the rifle butt by the soldier of Lankan navy. That was done with the intention of seriously injuring Rajiv Gandhi. Thus the two actions are quite different.
On July 13, 1988 the then Bihar chief minister, Bhagwat Jha Azad, had his face smeared by Virendra Vidrohi, an activist of the Indian Peoples Front. The IPF then was open outfit of the CPI ML, which was then an underground organisation. Azad, now in the BJP, was in Khagri Tola village near Kako block of Jehanabad district of Bihar, where the private army of upper castemen massacred 11 Dalits.
As Azad entered the hut of one of victims’ family members to console them, Vidrohi, who was hiding nearby suddenly appeared with black soot all over his hands and smeared the face of the chief minister. He was completely taken aback by this form of protest. Top police officials, who were flocking Azad caught hold of Vidrohi and handed him to the constables, who were waiting outside the hut.
The constables beat him blue and black with ministers, MLAs and other dignitaries present on the occasion keeping mum. The only one to meekly object the kicking and beating of Vidrohi in full public view was this correspondent, who along with a large number of journalists and lensmen was present there. That was not the age of TV journalism, yet the photo showing Vidrohi smearing the face of the chief minister sold like a hot-cake in newspaper offices.
Vidrohi unfortunately died in the jail some time later. He sustained serious injuries within. Will Al-Zaidi meet the same fate for such a democratic form of protest? Where has the human rights gone?
Bush is the outgoing head of the largest democracy in the world. Yet he is not tolerant enough to intervene and save the life of the Iraqi journalist who threw shoes on him.