Shoes have been thrown publicly at three politicians in the country in recent days.A serving Home Minister, a former Union Home Minister and a young parliamentarian, have been targeted separately.
Though it is uncivilised and condemnable, hurling shoes seems to have become a trend in this country. Either to express anger and disapproval or just for the heck for it, nothing appears as easy as taking off your footwear and throw it.
So what if you miss the target? You get into limelight. But there is another aspect to this trend. It shows that how unpopular our politicians are becoming and how little respect they command among the citizens.
There is no outrage in the society when a shoe is thrown. Sikh journalist emulated Muntazir Al Zaidi's act, to protest the Congress ticket for Lok Sabha election to Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar. P Chidambaram made light of it and acted gracefully.
Navin Jindal and LK Advani have recently been targeted in Haryana and Katni respsectively. Navin forgave the person but Advani didn't do the same. It seems the trend of throwing shoes is catching on as it doesn't cause physical harm to a person but does send a strong message across.
More so, the lack of any outrage over such incidents shows how little respect the politicians command in our society now a days. Over the years the leaders have lost credibility and respect. Hence the shoes keep flying.
