Why Bengal’s trend of ‘egg justice’ may not be as harmless as it looks

The visuals are becoming disturbingly common: Eggs flying at Trinamool Congress leaders; crowds chanting “chor, chor (thief, thief)”; sometimes, even shoes and stones accompanying the eggs.

Videos of TMC leaders being attacked, mocked, heckled, and publicly humiliated, sometimes when they are being escorted by the police, are spreading like wildfire across social media. But what is not so visible on social media—or even on mainstream media—are the more serious assaults and murders.

The not-so-funny attacks

Ever since the BJP has come to power in West Bengal, attacks on TMC leaders have become increasingly common, prompting concerns that public anger is increasingly spilling beyond the boundaries of lawful protest.

These concerns have deepened following two recent deaths. On June 15, a 71-year-old TMC worker died in Hooghly’s Parshura after being allegedly assaulted by BJP supporters. Six days before that, on June 9, a 30-year-old man was lynched in the Sankijahan area of Kultali in South 24-Parganas after villagers apparently mistook him for a thief.

The incidents came to light only days later when videos started circulating online, confirming the suspicions that many acts of lawlessness are not even being reported by the mainstream media.

History shows that vigilantism rarely remains confined to unpopular targets. Once normalised, it can easily be directed at political opponents, minorities, outsiders or innocent individuals caught in rumours.

The ‘invisible’ spurt in violence

The case of Sahadeb Bag is another example. Bag, a panchayat member from Nokunda under Goghat-I block in Hooghly district, was found dead on May 9. The incident attracted wider attention only after the TMC shared photographs of his bloodied body on social media and alleged that he had been killed in an incident of post-poll violence.

The BJP, however, rejected the charge and accused the TMC of politicising the death. Nonetheless, the episode illustrated both the recent spurt in violence and the limited public scrutiny that many such incidents have attracted.

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Instances of post-poll violence emerged immediately after the results were announced on May 4, including the lynching of BJP worker Jadhav Bar in Howrah and the killing of a TMC worker in Birbhum on the same day.

However, the police response on the ground was not strong enough to curb the alarming trend of mob violence, which has also found a softer but troubling expression in the form of egg attacks on political figures. Though the incidents differ in nature, they reflect a growing willingness among crowds to take the law into their own hands.

The emergence of egg-ocracy

It started making news when TMC general secretary and leader of the party in Lok Sabha, Abhishek Banerjee, was viciously attacked with eggs and shoes on May 30 while visiting families of post-poll violence victims in Sonarpur. Security personnel had to put a police helmet on him for protection and physically escort him to safety.

But even before that, on May 28, protesters in the Nimta-Birati area surrounded veteran TMC MP Saugata Roy’s car during a constituency visit to Dum Dum (North), hurled eggs at the vehicle, and chanted slogans. Since these two incidents, at least seven prominent TMC leaders have been pelted with eggs. Senior TMC Leader and MLA Madan Mitra’s vehicle convoy was pelted with eggs by a mob in his Kamarhati constituency on June 6.

Several local-level TMC leaders have faced similar egg attacks as well. Sujoy Hazra faced mob fury in Midnapore, with the vehicle carrying him being pelted with eggs over allegations that he had collected money from residents for incomplete housing projects. Eggs were also thrown at TMC leader Jayaprakash Majumdar during a police-escorted visit to inspect a disputed property site.

Former MLA Saokat Molla was targeted with eggs by agitated citizens while being taken into custody by police following his arrest over corruption cases. Former MLA and former mayor of Bidhannagar, Sabyasachi Dutta, also faced an irate crowd that pelted him with eggs as he was being escorted to police custody.

The latest on the egg-attack list are TMC MLA and Spokesperson Kunal Ghosh and TMC Youth Leader Soumitra Banerjee. On Monday (June 15), Ghosh was pelted with eggs that struck his face and shirt while he was talking to the media right outside Mamata Banerjee’s Kalighat residence. The very next day, Soumitra was aggressively pelted with eggs and faced “chor” slogans while being escorted to court by police in connection with an assault case.

The act itself often becomes a spectacle. Videos are recorded, circulated and celebrated. Public humiliation becomes entertainment. Punishment becomes performance.

The normalisation of humiliation

The attack on Ghosh led to immediate protests from TMC leaders, who alleged a security lapse and claimed BJP supporters were behind the attack. Two persons were later arrested in connection with the attack, the first visible police action in what has increasingly been termed a “dim-ocracy”—a sarcastic play on the Bengali word dim (egg), to refer to recurring egg-hurling incidents targeting political figures.

Some political commentators have begun describing the pattern as “egg politics” in Bengal. But in the same breath, they warn that while egg-throwing may appear harmless, it represents a form of symbolic punishment designed to humiliate its target in public.

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“The concern is not the egg itself, but the idea that public humiliation is being normalised as a substitute for due process,” said political Kolkata-based political commentator Debasish Chakrabarti. That is what makes the recent developments particularly alarming.

The changing nature of political violence

West Bengal is no stranger to political violence. For decades, successive governments have faced allegations of partisan clashes, electoral violence and political killings. From the Left Front era to the TMC years, violence has remained an enduring feature of the state’s political culture. The current trend, however, appears different in one important respect.

Political violence traditionally involved organised party structures confronting rival groups. The emerging phenomenon is more widespread. It involves crowds, public participation and social approval.

The act itself often becomes a spectacle. Videos are recorded, circulated and celebrated. Public humiliation becomes entertainment. Punishment becomes performance.

Why egg-pelting is not harmless

Former Rajya Sabha member Jawhar Sircar has been among the growing number of public voices expressing concern over the emerging culture of public retribution. Sircar argued that democratic accountability cannot be replaced by vengeance and that institutions lose legitimacy when public passions are allowed to dictate punishment.

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Opposition politicians, too, have voiced similar concerns, cautioning against treating egg-throwing as harmless political theatre. Once society accepts the principle that crowds may punish individuals before guilt is established, they argue, the boundary between symbolic humiliation and physical violence begins to weaken.

“Under no circumstances is such mob justice acceptable. It is setting a very bad precedent,” said Congress spokesperson Chandan Ghosh Choudhury.

A dangerous precedent

Kunal Ghosh, after being attacked, condemned the incident as “planned hooliganism” and said such acts set a dangerous precedent, warning that similar tactics could be used against leaders of any political party, including the BJP.

History shows that vigilantism rarely remains confined to unpopular targets. Once normalised, it can easily be directed at political opponents, minorities, outsiders or innocent individuals caught in rumours.

The Kultali lynching illustrates that danger. The victim was not a politician, a criminal suspect or a public figure. He was a stranger who found himself unable to explain his presence to an increasingly suspicious crowd. By the time facts emerged, he was dead.

Unchecked public anger

Even within the ruling establishment, there are signs of concern. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari recently urged people not to take the law into their own hands and to allow legal institutions to deal with those accused of wrongdoing. The statement reflected an acknowledgement that public anger, if left unchecked, can acquire a momentum of its own.

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The BJP government came to power promising accountability for alleged corruption and abuses under the previous regime. “That promise enjoys substantial public support. Yet the challenge facing the administration is ensuring that accountability remains rooted in law rather than emotion,” said another Kolkata-based political commentator and author Nirmalya Banerjee.

The distinction matters all the more because a state already burdened with a long history of political violence can ill afford the further normalisation of mob justice, no matter how physically harmless it may appear.