Thanks to Muntadar al-Zaidi, the citizen of this world have a new way to vent out their anger. Even though it came very late for George Bush, it came at an appropriate time for the Congress. Jarnail Singh’s act of throwing his Reebok shoes and the subsequent protest from the sikh community has forced the Congress to pull back the candidature of Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar.

A rattled Congress today withdrew leaders Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar from the electoral fray as the ghost of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots returned to haunt the party. Not wanting to alienate the Sikhs on the eve of general elections, the Congress leadership decided to withdraw both leaders following the din over the CBI clean chit to Tytler in one of the riot cases. Tytler, the party candidate in North East Delhi, and Sajjan Kumar, contesting the South Delhi seat, were called by senior party leaders Pranab Mukherjee and Ahmed Patel and told to opt out of the race, according to Congress sources. [Indian Express]

Even though the act by Jarnail Singh is highly deplorable, particularly by the fact that it was directed against a very respectable man and more particularly by the fact that there are very few respectable men and women in politics, it served its purpose. I am still amazed by the speed at which events unfolded in the past 48 hours. I was not expecting anything from the protests, similar to the million or so protests that take in Delhi every year. Its a victory for the citizen of this country, which must be treated with utmost caution and responsibility.

The BJP has always been critical of the Congress for its role in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 but it has always turned a blind eye towards the doings of its own leader. Their prime ministerial candidate, Advani, has involvement in umpteen number of riots directed against the Muslims. There would be nothing more shameful for a democracy, of the stature of India, if the the Advani is elected the PM. People with criminal background, frauds, thugs and money launderers have already occupied the prestigious posts of central ministers. Never before this nation has seen a person with criminal background become the PM of this country. Manmohan Singh and Vajpayee were highly respected men. They command and would continue to hold a position of high respect among the masses. They were learned men who were admired by Indians and Foreigners alike. It made me proud as a citizen of this county to admire and look in awe while they spoke in public forums.

I have my fingers crossed.

Update 1: Another incident in Haryana

In a second incident of its kind in a week, a retired school teacher on Friday hurled his shoe towards Congress MP Navin Jindal in Kurukshetra “to protest” against Congress’ policies but missed his target.

Ram Kumar threw his shoe towards Jindal during an election rally in Kurukshetra constituency, police sources said here. [Hindustantimes ]

I know I was rude to call Pakistan a Najistan. It was my anger at the total collapse of the government and above all its ineptness at preventing such attacks. My post titled ‘Pakistan to Najistan, on this blog was made more subtle and I vowed never to write for that blog until and unless they change the title back. Well, they don’t care anyways, but it was important to me that I don’t back out from a stand I took after so many years of observing the developments in Pakistan from outside.

After today’s attack on Sri Lankan cricketers, I would once again reiterate my advocacy of calling Pakistan a Najistan. It’s not just a failed state, its a blot on the name of humanity and freedom.

–> Few fanatic morons walk into your territory and declare it as their own. Then the national government succeeds in getting a ‘ceasefire’ and flaunts its as a diplomatic success.

–> Its investigation into the Bombay attacks are a complete mockery of investigation.

–> The security of a national cricket team is breached by few rascals and then escape as if they came to get autographs. Weren’t the cricketers even provided with bullet proof buses for transportation?

–> Economy- Well…leave it

And you still want to call that country clean of all evils?

I won’t go far in comparing Pakistan with a country that was born at the same time. Bangladesh. Even though Bangladesh had its tryst with anarchy, its achievement in maintaing democracy and controlling the army is commendable (The recently army mutiny is an example). On the other hand, Pakistan is an absolute joke when it comes to democracy and i better not talk about its control of its army. Even though Bangladesh is economically behind Pakistan, majorly because of the geographical location of Bangladesh and partially due to unauthorized rule of Pakistan for 25 years.