Thaindian News

New Delhi, April 26 (IANS) Two shoes flung at US President George Bush by an Iraqi journalist seems to have literally kickstarted a global trend. The attacks on famous personalities by sullen people armed with nothing more than their footwear, and in some exceptions knives, is becoming increasingly common.

In the latest case, a former lawyer from Madhya Pradesh, Manoj Sharma, Tuesday flung a slipper at the former Commonwealth Games (CWG) Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi inside the Patiala House court premises.

Sharma was apparently “furious at corrupt practices” during granting of contracts for the October 2010 Games, police said.

On Dec 14, 2008, an Iraqi journalist Muntazar al Zaidi, upset with the American presence in his country, threw his shoes at then US President George Bush who was visiting Iraq.

Similarly, a 27-year-old German student hurled a shoe at Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during his visit to Cambridge University in Britain Feb 2, 2009.

Wen’s visit was marred by anti-China protests in London, which saw around 50 pro-Tibetan demonstrators gather outside 10, Downing Street.

Almost two years later, former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf came under attack Feb 6, 2011 when a man threw a shoe at him as he was upset over the US detention of a Pakistani national.

Back home in India, in April 2009, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker hurled a slipper at senior leader Lal Krishna Advani in Madhya Pradesh, but missed the target.

In the same month, a slipper was thrown at Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa at a BJP rally. The slipper landed far from the dais, but the man, Chandrashekhar, was arrested.

On March 24, 2011, yoga guru Baba Ramdev had a close shave when a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper Mitu Singh Rathore hurled his boot at him. Rathore was angered by Ramdev’s long speech on corruption instead of a yoga demonstration at a camp in Nagpur.

In April 7, 2009, a Sikh journalist Jarnail Singh, from Hindi daily Dainik Jagran, lobbed a shoe at union Home Minister P. Chidambaram who was addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi. However, the shoe did not hit the minister.

Singh was miffed at the CBI’s clean chit to Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case and wanted to debate the issue with Chidambaram, who refused.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was also targeted Aug 15, 2010 when a suspended police constable, Abdulla Ahad Jaan, hurled a shoe at him during the Independence Day celebrations in Srinagar.

Police said that Jaan was mentally unsound and was also named in a case of extortion.

However, there also have been cases where the attacks were violent, threatening the life of the victim.

On Feb 8, 2010, former Haryana Director General of Police S.P.S. Rathore, convicted of molesting teenager Ruchika Girhotra, was seriously injured when a man, posing as a journalist, stabbed him thrice in the face with a pocket knife outside a court in Chandigarh.

The assailant Utsav Sharma, 29, a resident of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, was said to be suffering from a psychological problem termed “mood disorder syndrome”.

On Jan 25, 2011 Sharma repeated the act. But this time, he attacked Rajesh Talwar, father of murdered teen Aarushi, attacking him with a sharp edged cleaver outside a Ghaziabad court.

The attack left Talwar bleeding profusely as he suffered injuries to his face and hand.