Question

Explain in detail the shoe respect controversy that arose during the British colonial period in India.

Answer 1

(i) Governor General Amhest made it customary for Indians to take off their shoes as a sign of respect when they appeared before him. But it was not followed strictly.
(ii) When Lord Daihousie became the Governor General he made shoe respect very strict. Indians were now made to take off their shoes when entering any government institution. Many Indian government servants were uncomfortable with these rules.
(iii) In 1862, Manockjee Cowasjec Entee, an assessor in the Surat Fouzdaree Adalut, defied the shoe respect rule by refusing to take off his shoes in court of the sessions judge.
(iv) The judge insisted that he take off his shoes as that was the Indian way of showing respect to superiors. But Manockjee remained adamant, As a result, he was barred entry into the courtroom and he sent a letter of protest to the governor of Bombay.
(v) The British Insisted that since Indians took off their shoes when they entered a sacred place or home, they should do so when they entered the courtroom.
(vi) But Indians had their own argument. The urged that taking off shoes in sacred places and at home was linked to two different questions. First there was the problem of dirt and filth. Shoes collected the dirt on the road. This dirt could not be allowed into spaces that were clean, particularly when people in Indian homes sat on the ground. Second, leather shoes and the filth that stuck under it were seen as polluting.
(v) But government buildings such as the courtroom were different from home. One could enter there wearing shoes.