Kolkata: Disgraced former West Bengal industry minister Partha Chatterjee has walked into the league where his predecessors have been, former United States President George Bush, former US secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Pakistan President Parvez Musharraf, former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, veteran NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, former Indian home minister P Chidambaram, Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal among others. All these personalities were hurled with shoes during their tenures.
On Tuesday, a woman Subhra Ghorui hurled a shoe at the SSC recruitment scam accused Partha Chatterjee when the latter went for a medical checkup at the ESI hospital in Joka, Kolkata. The shoe directed at him missed the target. "It would have been better if the shoe hit his head," said Subhra. “People like Partha Chatterjee have bought flats in several places in Kolkata for crores of rupees. He is being brought to the hospital in big cars, which is creating problems for us," she said.
"We are having a lot of problems with it as we cannot see a doctor. We were supposed to see the doctor today. But, as Partha Chatterjee has come, the entire ESI Hospital was surrounded by police and central forces. We were unable to bear it and so I threw the shoe at him," she added.
George Bush was attacked with a shoe on December 14, 2008, when an Iraqi journalist threw a shoe at then-US President. The prime minister during the UPA rule, Manmohan Singh found himself at the receiving end when a shoe was thrown at him at a public meeting in Paldi, Ahmedabad during the general election campaign in 2009. A computer engineering student Hitesh Chauhan committed the crime. However, Manmohan forgave that young man and also directed officials not to take any action against the student.
Also read: I am a victim of conspiracy: Partha Chatterjee
In the same year, a journalist threw a shoe at the then Home Minister P Chidambaram. Journalist Jarnail Singh committed the act during a press conference. Two years later, the then Union Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar faced ignominy on November 24, 2011, when a person named Harvinder Singh hurled a shoe at the minister for Pawar's alleged involvement in various corruption cases.
A shoe was hurled by a member of a group of about 20 lawyers protesting against Parvez Musharraf on March 29, 2013. The protester screamed, “He’s a dictator and he should be hanged.” Hillary Clinton faced similar wrath on April 10, 2014, while delivering a lecture in Las Vegas, Nevada. The culprit's name was Alison Ernst.
A youth named Haryom Mishra threw a shoe at former Congress president Rahul Gandhi during his road show in Uttar Pradesh on September 26, 2016. An enraged Mishra questioned the Gandhi scion for holding a rally without paying tribute to the 18 jawans killed in the terror attack in Uri. To everyone's utter surprise, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was the target of a show attack, also in 2016. Vaid Sharma was the culprit here.
