Jagadish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar are two Congress heavyweights who, the people believe, were hugely involved in Sikh massacres. But the Central Bureau of investigation, the country's top investigating agency, directly under Prime Minister's control, recently gave them a clean chit as if to facilitate their nomination in the election fray. They were duly nominated, and were set to have a go, but a size 9 Reebok shoe tossed at P.Chidambaram, home Minister, by Jarnail Singh, a reporter, in a press meet subverted it all. The duo were literally dumped. Tytler who was seen boasting that the Sikhs loved him, and he was of course going to contest the election, is now singing a defeatist tune: he does not want to cause embarrassment to the party.
Now, P. Chidambaram, the ever-smiling minister of Manmohan singh cabinet, said it with glee that he was indeed happy that Tytler had got a clean chit. He never expected that his words would trigger such a visceral reaction. Could he ever figure it out that in the end Tytler would finally be thrown out of the ring altogether.
So, the public wrath aptly symbolized by Jarnail's Reebok shoe does a good thing for the Congress: it sanitises the party in a way. Sure Mrs Sonia Gandhi has not totally lost her sense of perspective. But will the party fare well in the election, given its track record like its using the CBI to give Tyler a clean chit?
