"Shoe-Chucking" a never ending trend

An Iraqi journalist was wrestled to the floor by security guards after he called Mr Bush "a dog" and threw his footwear, just missing by a little. President Bush ducked and saved himself from getting hurt. Experimented first on Bush, Later became a trend.

On August 15, at the Independence Day celebrations a shoe was hurled at Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah by a suspended police officer. However, the shoe did not hit the Chief Minister.

In Birmingham, on August 7, while Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari was at a rally, a shoe aimed towards him was thrown by a protestor in agitation because of the timing of his tour. Back in Pakistan, millions suffered because of floods, yet Zardari chose to go ahead with the tour.
An angry man threw a boot at former Australian prime minister John Howard during a debate at Cambridge University on Thursday. A security guard picked up the shoe that was thrown towards the dignitary. No one ever imagined that "shoe-chucking" would be picked up as an action to get a instant popularity around the world. (AFP image)
It all started with an Iraqi journalist throwing his shoe at former US President George W Bush as a protest of American action against Iraqis; he also called Bush "a dog". Bush ducked and saved himself from getting hurt by just a whisker. Experimented first on Bush, later became a trend.

Back home, this soon became a trend. Even before the Bush controversy ebbed, a shoe was thrown towards Home minister P Chidambaram by Dainik Jagran journalist Jarnail Singh. The Sikh journalist was infuriated when Chidambaran refused to talk further about the clean chit given by the CBI to the two main accused of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Jagdish Tytle and Sajjan Kumar.
Among the other 'shoe' gate targets were BJP leader L K Advani and Congress MP Navin Jindal.Pawan Agarwal, a BJP worker, threw a slipper at Advani while a retired school principal, Rajpal, hurled his shoe while Jindal was addressing party workers.
Hurling shoes at politicians seem to have become a way of showing protest during the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year. After Chidambaram and Advani, a man made an attempt to throw a shoe at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at an election rally in Ahmedabad. Luckily, the shoe fell short of the PM's dais.