Singh gained media attention when he threw a shoe at India's Home Minister P. Chidambaram during a press conference on 7 April 2009. Singh was upset that the minister's party, the Indian National Congress, had given poll tickets to leaders who had been accused of instigating the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom. The leaders had been "cleared" of any involvement by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) when the Congress government was in power. Responding to Jarnail Singh's question, Chidambaram stated that the CBI had not acted under government pressure, and had only submitted its reports to the court and that it was up to the courts to make a decision. Singh was not satisfied with the answer and threw a shoe at the minister in protest. Singh later stated: