These boots are made for walking"[throwing]" - Jessica Simpson

It started with an Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi hurling his shoe at the then American President George Bush to show his anger and frustration against America’s continued presence in Iraq and also America’s influence in Iraq’s internal issues. But little did Muntadhar realize that he would be pioneering a practice which would be followed thousands of miles away in India. Muntadhar has set a new trend among Indians to vent their frustration against politicians. We had Dainik Jagran’s journalist Jarnail Singh who began the trend in India by throwing his shoe at P. Chidambaram followed by a school teacher hurling his shoe at Congress MP Naveen Jindal, then senior BJP leader L. K. Advani was booted at and even our honoured Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh was not spared from such attacks. And now the trend seems to catching up with the Police Department as well, with ex-police constable Abdulla Ahad Jaan hurling his shoe at Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. It is a pity that the very force which is responsible for control and security is being influenced and also is involved in such shameful acts. What is even more saddening is the moment when Abu Jaan chose to hurl his “ammunition.” It was when everyone was paying respects to the nation; just moments after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had unfurled the Tricolour and while he was saluting with the national anthem playing alongside. The incident can hence be even seen as disrespect shown towards the Flag, our National Anthem and country as a whole. Soon we may have to deal with a situation wherein there is a shoe hurled at every public meeting convened by various political parties or worse wherein children start taking to such antics and start throwing shoes at their teachers [then the trend is here to stay].

It sometimes makes me wonder as to whether this new form of protest will take over the long practiced and so called non-violent forms of protest such as the Satyagraha, Padayatra and Silent Marches. Or maybe such forms of protests are reserved for the political class, the shoe throw is now meant for the press and the police leaving strikes and violence for the mob and the common man. This also brings into picture the fact that the first two forms of protests which are followed the three P’s can go unpunished either because they weren’t a offence in the first place or by the very influence of the profession of the protestors while the common man’s approach is punishable because of the form of protest and also because he is an easier target without any influence.

The shoe throwers may not yet have realized that they are setting a bad example and also that it paints the entire nation in poor light. Indians have already earned the disrepute of being one of the most corrupt and dishonest people in the world thanks to our politicians and bureaucrats and we do not need a “shoe-throwers” image to be built because of our scribes and policemen.

Interestingly, the “shoe” [which was also hurled at Pakistan President Asif Zardari] has yet to achieve its mark. It has till now failed in both striking its target and also in achieving its mission it was thrown for. I guess it just needs some practice before it can be perfected [hopefully the art strilking the target should not be perfected, but the art of achieving the mission will be :)].