The Indian Slapper

Ah, to be the owner of the hand that delivers the ultimate insult to the powerful

There have been multiple attempts in the recent past to attack Arvind Kejriwal. He was once sprinkled with ink; on another occasion, a self-confessed Anna Hazare supporter lunged at him; and some days back, a man was able to get close enough to land a slap on his neck. Until finally, it happened. A man, later identified as an autorickshaw driver in Delhi, came up with the bright idea of getting close enough by garlanding the former Chief Minister. When the leader bowed to receive it, the driver delivered a powerful slap across his face, and more importantly, in front of TV cameras.

According to Kejriwal’s coterie, the slap was a ‘paid slap’, by which they meant it was arranged by their electoral opponents. The recipient, however, was more ponderous, seeming to want to understand the reasoning behind these attacks. He wrote in a series of tweets, ‘I am just thinking—why am i being repeatedly attacked? Who [are] the masterminds? What do they want? What do they achieve?’

To answer Kejriwal’s questions, it is unlikely that the slappers, or attackers, are controlled by some syndicate or kingpin of slap-givers. What a slapper wants is fame for himself and the vilification of his subject. To be the owner of the hand that delivers the ultimate insult to the most powerful of men. The motivation of the action, whatever it may be, is incidental. Here, it was an autorickshaw driver who felt Kejriwal had betrayed autorickshaw drivers, and earlier it was a man pained at Kejriwal’s perceived slight to Hazare. One could see that the slapper was an ordinary individual looking for his five minutes of fame, when Kejriwal, in a smart PR move, visited the attacker in his house the day after the incident. The attacker was quoted as saying, “I’ve committed a big mistake. I should have never done what I did. I consider [Kejriwal] as a god.” How else does a commoner react to having a former CM visit him in his home, despite the fact that just the day before he had enough reason to slap him?

In that regard, a slapper is not very different from the shoe-flinger that appeared to plague Indian politicians a few years ago. But the shoe, delivered from afar, is convenient and lacks the derring- do of a resounding slap. And during elections, where leaders are out campaigning, it isn’t difficult to deliver a slap. The only other recorded incident of a slap being delivered to an Indian politician is that of a man named Harvinder Singh who slapped NCP chief Sharad Pawar, a few years ago, apparently because he was upset with corruption and price rise. The same individual had in the past also assaulted former Telecom Minister Sukh Ram.

What eggs a slapper on further is the empathy he generates. Many erupted in glee as TV channels continued to play the slapping episode. People, it appeared, had their own reasons. For some viewers, Kejriwal is an opponent of individuals they admire. And to some, he is an upstart and the slap serves the purpose of bringing him back to their ordinary worlds.

The best manner to deal with slappers and attackers is to not give them what they ultimately want— fame and recognition. And for that, Kejriwal is equally to blame. Jarnail Singh, the man who is supposed to have started the trend of throwing shoes at public figures when he flung a shoe in 2009 at the then Home Minister P Chidambaram, is currently fighting a Lok Sabha election on an AAP ticket.

About The Author

Lhendup G Bhutia

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