A shoe for Mr Chidambaram

He was unhappy with Chidambaram's answer on CBI giving a clean chit to Jagdish Tytler on 1984 anti-Sikh riots

A routine press conference at the Congress headquarters in Delhi turned dramatic after a journalist hurled a show at Home Minister, P Chidambaram, on Tuesday. The minister was quick to duck the shoe which flew past him.

The Congress has tried to make light of the matter. The journalist, Jarnail Singh, of Hindi daily, Dainik Jagran, was bundled out of the Congress office at Akbar Road and taken to Tughlaq Road police station. Soon after, there were reports that he was let off. No charge was slapped against him.

Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan said, "We don't intend to politicise the issue at any cost. We think this was an emotional outburst. Mr Chidambaram has also said he has forgiven him. This is in keeping with the tradition of the Indian National Congress."

BJP condemned the incident while adding that this should make the Congress sit up and take notice.

Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) came out in support of Singh and asserted it was a reflection of the sentiments of the common people. A rally was taken out by the Sikh community from Parliament Street.

But, journalists are divided on the issue. While some condemned the incident as violating journalistic ethics of non-partisan reporting, there were those who sympathised with Singh.

With this shoe incident, Chidambaram joined the league of former US President, George W Bush, and Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao. The trend of shoe hurling to register protest began with Iraqi television journalist, Muntadar al-Zaidi, throwing a shoe at Bush at a press conference in Baghdad.

While Zaidi was sentenced to three years in prison after intense interrogation and alleged torture, Singh was released without any formal charge against him. Instructions to this effect came straight from Chidambaram no less. It is believed that the elections saved Singh. At any other time, he could have attracted serious charges including imprisonmen

On Monday, Chidambaram had called a press conference to present The Congress Party's Pledge: Protecting India from Terror. After his briefing, he was taking questions posed by journalists. Singh asked the home minister a question about CBI giving a clean chit to Congress leader, Jagdish Tytler in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Chidambaram replied, "First of all let me make it clear that the CBI is not under the home ministry. To my knowledge, neither the home ministry nor any other ministry had put any pressure on the CBI." He then went on to say, "CBI has only given a report to the court. It is for the court to accept or reject or ask for further investigation by CBI. Let us wait for the court's decision."

But, Singh was not satisfied with the answer and pressed on. Chidambaram told him, "No arguments. Don't use this platform for political comments." Even before he could finish, the journalist had hurled his shoe at the Congress leader shouting, "I protest."

Chidambaram leaned back and the shoe missed the target. Looking unruffled, Chidambaram smiled and asked party workers to take Singh out of the room. "Take him away. Gently, gently. Let's not get disturbed by such a trivial incident," Chidambaram said.

Catapulted to headlines, Singh said, "I have nothing against the Congress. The issue was just though my method of protest might have been wrong." He also had a word of advice for fellow journalists. "No one should repeat what I have done," he said, soon after he was released.

His colleague at Dainik Jagran told Hardnews that Singh is a quiet and shy person, and has years of experience behind him. He covered defence and intelligence agencies.