Varanasi grocer hires bouncers to guard tomatoes as prices continue to soar

Fauji, who is selling tomatoes at Rs 140-160 per kg, has bouncers deployed at his cart from 9 am to 5 pm

In an apparent attempt to score political points, an SP worker who is also a vegetable vendor purportedly hired bouncers to "protect" the produce in his store amid record high prices of tomatoes across the country.

Ajay Fauji, who runs a grocery business in the Lanka area of Varanasi, has deployed two bouncers, he says, to prevent buyers from getting aggressive while haggling the tomato prices.

Fauji had earlier cut a tomato-shaped cake in Varanasi on the birthday of Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav.

"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.

Fauji's shop also has 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 is selling tomatoes at Rs 140-160 per kg, has the bouncers deployed at his cart from 9 am to 5 pm.

He refused to reveal how much he hired them for. "No one will provide bouncers free of cost." Asked how keeping bouncers has helped him, Fauji claimed even though people are coming in 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."