Lucknow, July. 23: Uttar Pradesh Minister Pratibha Shukla has said that tomato price hike is not new at this time and there is a solution for every problem. The minister advised people not to eat tomato now and this statement went viral.
“If you stop eating tomatoes, the prices will inevitably come down. So people should grow tomatoes at home. You can eat lemons instead of tomatoes. If nobody eats tomatoes, the prices will come down automatically,” the minister said on Saturday. Tomato prices continue to rise above Rs 120 per kg across the country.
Congress has taken a dig at the UP minister’s statement. Because the government has interpreted the statement that there is no way to bring down rising prices as ‘acceptance’. Congress leader Supriya Srinathe said, “Jo bhee cheez mehengi hai us khana chod deejiye, this suggestion is coming from Uttar Pradesh minister. You have defeated your colleagues in the race with such careless words.
बाबा के सरकार की मंत्री प्रतिभा शुक्ला कह रही हैं, 'जो चीजें महंगी हैं। उन्हें खाना छोड़ दीजिये।'
यानी सरकार का फ़रमान आ गया कि 'भूखों मरना है तो मरिये! मगर, महंगाई से समझौता नहीं किया जा सकता।' pic.twitter.com/u1pvEh8Vru
— UP Congress (@INCUttarPradesh) July 23, 2023
Minister of State for Consumer Affairs Ashwini Kumar Choubey told the Rajya Sabha that the arrival of new crops from Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra is likely to reduce tomato prices.
Onion Price and Nirmala Sitharaman
In 2019, when Nirmala Sitharaman was questioned about onion price hike in the Lok Sabha, the minister said that we don’t know because we don’t use onion. As the price of tomatoes has skyrocketed for the past couple of weeks, the opposition leaders, recalling Nirmala Sitharaman’s old statement, questioned whether the minister does not eat tomatoes too.
Tomato price hike, incidents of theft
Amid the increase in the price of tomatoes, there have been incidents of looting, theft and kidnapping of tomatoes in many places across the country. A Tamil Nadu couple has been arrested for hijacking a 2.5 tonne tomato truck in Bangalore. A Pune farmer filed a case after his 400 kg tomato was stolen.
