Just UP things! Vegetable vendor hires bouncers to protect tomatoes: Pictures inside

Digital Desk: Not onions, but skyrocketing tomato costs in various parts of the nation have made people cry. In the midst of this, vegetable dealers are making every effort to prevent theft or looting of the goods. MEanwhile, Ajay Fauji, a Samajwadi Party worker who is also a vegetable vendor, hired bouncers to keep customers away when they come to buy tomatoes, whose price has climbed rapidly over the previous few days. This alarming but intriguing incident has captured people's attention. This action is being seen as a clear attempt to win political points.

A purported video said to be from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, shows two bouncers doing their best to keep off customers at bay who are there to buy veggies. Ajay Fauji, who reportedly cut a cake in the shape of a tomato in Varanasi to celebrate Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav's birthday, is said to be a Samajwadi Party worker.

Fauji claimed that he hired bouncers because the price of tomatoes is too high, and he was worried about the situations where people were acting violently and even stealing tomatoes.

"I have hired bouncers because the tomato price is too high. Violence and tomato looting are also taking place. We have bouncers here because we don't want any fights because we have tomatoes in the store. The price of tomatoes is Rs 160 per kg. People are buying 50 or 100 gms, "the merchant Ajay Fauji said. 

"I kept hearing people arguing about the price of tomatoes. People also tried to bargain at my store. So I decided to station bouncers in uniform at my cart to put a halt to the ongoing arguments," Fauji continued. 

SP leader Akhilesh Yadav took a jibe at the Centre on Twitter by posting a photo of a Varanasi merchant and his bouncers and criticising them for the skyrocketing cost of tomatoes, which had effectively turned them into a luxury item. He stated on Twitter,  "The BJP should provide 'Z-Plus' security to tomatoes."