The Politics of ‘Eggocracy’ in West Bengal

Devastatingly symbolic, the raw egg has become the latest vocabulary of public dissent in West Bengal, reviving a centuries-old tradition of shaming those in power.

A 1917 cartoon caricaturing the egg-throwing incident at Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes.

The price of the humble egg has suddenly increased in cities and districts of West Bengal. No one ever imagined the use of the egg as a political weapon in the hands of the common man and woman before the tumbling down of the previous state government of West Bengal. The role of the egg in its raw, uncooked state has now become a very useful and relatively cheap instrument of physical attack, emotional abuse and public insult.

The powers-that-be in the previous government, be it a minister, a member of the legislative assembly, a veteran political leader or a fresh entrant, or even a political ‘goonda’ in West Bengal has been subjected to this ruthless and brutal attack not by any member of the newly elected government in power. Or by any member of the new government but by masses of the general public. Men, women, even teenagers arrive at any spot they hear the police have arrived in some leader’s place with a not-so-humble egg in the hand or even carrying an entire crate of raw eggs to throw it at the said captive when he is brought out by the police and escorted to the police van to be taken to the nearest police station. The police are no less. They often strip the captive and corrupt political leader down to his underwear as the press photographers click on their modern cameras and the common public switch on their mobile phones to record the scene for posterity.

Sudden Diversion

Since the egg-throwing public chorusing “chor chor” during the entire drama bursting with anger at the local panchayat leader and his cronies which includes hired goondas, photographers enjoy this sudden diversion in the subject of their coverage while our mobile phones are never switched off while we are vicarious participants of these attacks.

But wait. The history of “egging” began long ago in the Western world where it had no political angle but was a weapon of protest. The story goes that in 16th century England, rotten eggs were thrown at actors on the public stage if the audience did not like their performance. In fact, they came to watch these theatrical performances carrying eggs and tomatoes in advance to be used as and when. This was a common but not very dangerous attack on actors the public felt were not good actors at all.

The most widely accepted origin of formal egg throwing dates back to roughly 1322 in Swaton, Lincolnshire. According to local legend, the village abbot, who owned the only chickens in the area, gave locals an egg as alms to encourage church attendance. Another story spells out that when a flooded river prevented parishioners from reaching the church, monks reportedly hurled hard-boiled eggs across the water to feed the peasants. This casual hurling eventually evolved into informal tossing games at country fairs and village fêtes.

Another infamous fable about the egg-throwing insult comes during the Medieval age, when prisoners were pilloried with their hands, feet and head nailed to a wooden frame. Then, this prisoner was made to stand erect while the gathered audience was invited to throw rotten eggs at him. This was an inhuman act by any description but it became a regular practice at one time.

Political Expression

But the practice of throwing eggs as a political expression of physical protest happened in Australia sometime during the 20th century. The story goes that a young man threw an egg at the then Prime Minister Billy Hughes. The egg struck his hat but when the police failed to catch the culprit, the story goes that this incident led to the framing of the police laws in Australia. This means that just one rotten egg thrown at a political leader at random could influence the political framework of an administration. How, or why, only the egg-thrower can explain.

Great names drawn from history and world politics have also been a part of the history of eggs as a weapon of protest, attack, insult and so on. Among these great names are Richard Nixon, Helmut Kohl, King Charles III, John Major, Margaret Thatcher, Arnold Swarzenegger and so on. Among the more national names are those of P. Chidambaram, Lalkrishna Advani, Naveen Patnayak and Arvind Kejriwal.

Sociologists offer four reasons for the global popularity of egg-throwing as a language and weapon of political protest. The first one is that the egg is easily available and comparatively cheap. There is no ban on the buying and selling of eggs anywhere across the world. Secondly, the egg does not lead to any grievous injury to the victim and is more a symbol of protest and an expression of collective anger. There is no bloodshed involved so there are less chances of facing legal punishment or penalty. Yet, this collective insult by the public and in the presence of the public has the power of destroying the public image of a public figure forever. Then, it is next to impossible for the victim to wipe out the terrible smell of raw eggs on his body and face and it is difficult to wipe off the stains of the raw egg. The final reason is the lasting visual impact of the act on the on the victim presented across on our television screens, computers and mobile phones. The scene of a cracked egg falling all over the head, face and body of the victim is a shocking and bizarre sight. Just click on your cell phone and switch to any West Bengal channel and you will see for yourself. At times, the police on duty also become mistaken targets but no one can be jailed as the attackers form a collective anonymous.

The contradiction lies in the real use of the egg. It is highly nutritious and cheap compared to other protein substitutes like fish and meat products. Many call it a “superfood.” And in these contradictory qualities lie the ironies of life. But in West Bengal, interestingly, the egg-seller is selling crates of rotten eggs at a price higher than the edible eggs. Why? No one knows.

The real irony is that this egg-throwing as an accusation and as a weapon of attack has absolutely no real impact on the administration or on the victims. It is a temporary weapon of insult the common man finds easy to use, buy and express his anger with and get some malicious and vicarious joy out of it. This has absolutely no positive or negative impact on the leaders and wrong-doers or on the politics the masses are venting their anger on. But do they know this? The negative impact in West Bengal is seen in the cutting down of the egg from twice to once a week at the mid-day meals supplied for free for children in municipal schools in the state. What can you say to this?

Agnimitra Paul, the deputy CM of the newly formed Government in the state, has called this “Dimocracy” as in Bengali, egg is called “dim.” While illegal in most jurisdictions, egging unpopular politicians and public figures remains a recognizable, attention-grabbing method of expressing public anger globally.

(The author is a noted film scholar who writes extensively on social issues. Views personal.)