The B.C. Punjabi Press Club has expressed “solidarity” with a fired journalist who threw a shoe at a senior Indian cabinet minister last April.

In a statement issued today (July 6), the BCPPC stated that it strongly disapproves of Jarnail Singh’s decision to  hurl a shoe at Home Minister P. Chidambram, condemning the action as “unprofessional” and “objectionable”.

However, the  BCPPC also alleged that Singh was fired last week by Dainik Jagran, a Hindi daily paper, as a result of political meddling by the governing Congress party.

"This reflects the freedom of press being under threat in India,", according to BCPPC spokesperson Major Singh Randhawa.

Singh threw his shoe at a news conference because he was upset over Chidambram’s position on politicians allegedly involved in an anti-Sikh pogrom in 1984.

Following the assassination of then-prime minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards in 1984, Sikhs were slaughtered by irate Hindu mobs, particularly in Delhi. The BCPPC alleges that two Congress MPs, Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, were linked to the pogrom.

“Jarnail Singh was upset at Chidambram’s comment that he is happy for Tytler, who got a clean chit from India’s Central Bureau of Investigation,” the BCPPC stated. “According to Singh, Dainik Jagran has fired him under pressure of the Congress lead coalition government. He has told the media that his organization did not sack him immediately but was compelling him to resign after the Congress government was reelected.”