E-Paper
Vendor arrested after SP worker deploys bouncers to 'guard' tomatoes in Varanasi
SP worker in Varanasi deploys bouncers at a vegetable vendor's shop to prevent buyers from getting aggressive over high tomato prices.
The attempt to score political points by an SP worker over skyrocketing tomato prices has got the vegetable vendor into trouble in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi. Samajwadi Party worker Ajay Fauji on Sunday deployed two bouncers at a vegetable vendor's shop in the Lanka area of Varanasi, which he claimed was to prevent buyers from getting aggressive while haggling over the tomato prices.
The shopkeeper, Raj Narayan, has been taken into custody and Ajay Fauji, who organised the dramatic protest, along with the two bouncers are on the run. On the basis of a complaint filed by a cop, a case has been registered against Fauji, a resident of Sirgovardhanpur; vegetable seller Raj Narayan, a Nagwa resident; his son and other unnamed people at the Lanka police station.
The vegetable vendor told the police that Fauji bought tomatoes worth ₹500 from somewhere and put them into a basket at his vegetable shop. Fauji himself sat at the shop and started selling the tomatoes as a mark of protest.
Fauji's shop also had a placard mentioning the rising prices of commodities over the last "nine years," an apparent reference to the period the Narendra Modi-led government has been in power at the Centre.
Fauji, who was selling tomatoes at ₹140-160 per kg, had the bouncers deployed at the shop from 9 am to 5 pm. He refused to reveal how much he hired them for, reported PTI.
"No one will provide bouncers free of cost."
Asked how keeping bouncers has helped him, Fauji claimed even though people are coming in the same numbers, they are less militant about the pricing now.
SP chief 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."
(With PTI inputs)
