Well, it is often seen that political leaders make various promises to people, especially ahead of elections. Once the election is over, they ignore the majority of those promises. Unfortunately, voters have to wait for a certain period of time in Democracy to punish those politicians for not fulfilling their promises. Of course, they can reject those leaders in the next election. However, there is a city where political leaders get punished immediately for breaking their promises.

Residents of the tiny northern Italian city of Trento enjoy the right to punish political leaders for making false promises. As per this custom called Tonca, residents bring a leader to a river, if s/he fails to carry her/his responsibilities. Then, they put the politician in a cage and dunk her/him in a river for a second in order to make the person realise her/his mistake.

People, residing in Trento, believe that elected leaders would work for the society, care for welfare, come up with policies, address major issues and deliver on their promises. Else, they would learn a lesson.

Tonca is a part of the Vigilian celebrations that Trento celebrates in the second half of June every year. Interestingly, the dipping of politicians, which is called the Court of Penitence, is one of the main events during the celebrations. Traditionally, it takes place on the last Sunday before June 26. In 2022, residents of Trento organised Tonca on June 19. According to locals, this custom is aimed at sensitising politicians about their accountability.

Trento is the third largest city in the Alps and the second largest in the historical region of Tyrol.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das