Tomato Watch: Why a UP vegetable vendor has hired bouncers

Humble tomatoes have become a luxury item. With prices skyrocketing across the country, a vegetable seller in Uttar Pradesh has deployed two bouncers to prevent buyers from getting aggressive while haggling the tomato prices. In a video footage, bouncers are seen pushing away customers who reach for tomatoes. Ajay Fauji, who runs a grocery business in the Lanka area of Varanasi, had said that the price of the tomatoes was the reason he involved the bouncers. “Violence is rampant, and some have even been looting tomatoes.” “We have bouncers here because we do not wish any fights while we have tomatoes in the store,” he was quoted saying by DNA. “I kept hearing about arguments over the tomato price among people. People at my shop too tried to haggle. So, to put an end to the constant arguments, I decided to deploy bouncers in uniform at my cart,” Fauji told PTI.

In UP's Varanasi, a local Samajwadi Party leader Ajay Fauji, in a viral video, can be seen deploying two bouncers to protect tomatoes at a vegetable shop in what is seen as a protest against skyrocketing prices of tomatoes. pic.twitter.com/ktEeKt76cE

— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) July 9, 2023

The vegetable vendor is also a Samajwadi Party worker and earlier had cut a tomato-shaped cake in Varanasi on the birthday of Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav. Akhilesh Yadav too shared the image of a news clip relating to Fauji and his bouncers, and tweeted, “The BJP should provide ‘Z-Plus’ security to tomatoes.”

भाजपा टमाटर को ‘Z PLUS’ सुरक्षा दे. pic.twitter.com/k1oGc3T5LN

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) July 9, 2023

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Fauji is selling tomatoes at Rs 140-160 per kg and has bouncers deployed at his cart from 9 am to 5 pm.  He, however, refused to reveal how much he hired them for. “No one will provide bouncers free of cost.” Asked how keeping bouncers at his cart has helped him, Fauji said even though people are coming in same numbers, they are less militant about the pricing now. Although the vendor’s move seems to be excessive, thieves made away with the tomatoes worth Rs 2.7 lakh from a farm in Belur in Hassan district of Karnataka a few days ago. [caption id=“attachment_12847002” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The vegetable vendor is also a Samajwadi Party worker and earlier had cut a tomato-shaped cake in Varanasi on the birthday of Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav. PTI[/caption] A shop in Mahabubabad district, Telangana, also experienced a theft of approximately 20 kg of tomatoes. Tomato prices soared last week across North India, with wholesale prices of the basic ingredient of traditional Indian kitchen rising 288 per cent in a month to a high of Rs 140 per kg. Many people were obliged to reduce their spending, as retail prices continued to rise. According to vendors, tomato prices are rising after heat waves and heavy rains in numerous growing regions disrupted production last month. With inputs from PTI