An unprecedented political situation has emerged in West Bengal after a change of power in the recent assembly election. In the post-vote period, an unusual form of protest has begun against Trinamool Congress leaders, with the “rotten egg” becoming the main weapon. Demand for and sales of rotten eggs have risen sharply in markets around Kolkata, with ordinary people and political activists alike searching different areas for them.
Rotten eggs, once used mainly as fish feed, in shampoo or in neurotherapy, are now being used as a non-violent but sharply humiliating tool of political protest. Sellers said that when someone now comes to buy a crate of eggs, they jokingly ask whether the eggs are to be eaten or thrown. A trader at the “Shambhu Egg Shop” in Jadavpur said a customer recently bought a whole crate of rotten eggs, adding that the buyer most likely had a political motive.
The rotten-egg protests began with Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who faced a demonstration at Sonarpur in South 24 Parganas where the first rotten eggs were thrown at him. Since then, the egg attacks have been carried out repeatedly against several Trinamool leaders and elected representatives, and have become a prominent feature of the state’s politics.
Trinamool has alleged that the BJP government is directly backing post-vote violence and harassment in West Bengal. The party claims that its leaders are being pelted with eggs one after another in front of the police, while the police stand by as silent spectators. It also alleged that police had arrested several influential Trinamool leaders in various cases and jailed them, and that protesters disguised as ordinary people then broke through police barricades to throw rotten eggs at them as they were being taken to court.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report