Twitter: @the_news_21
Protests against skyrocketing prices of tomatoes in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi district organised by Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Ajay Fauji alias Ajay Yadav proved costly for a shopkeeper as the administration filed an FIR under secton 153A, 295 and 505(2) against three named accused. Ajay Fauji, also named in the FIR, is reportedly absconding.
Ajay Fauji, associated with the Samajwadi Party, was in news as he had hired bouncers to protect the pricey tomatoes. “I have hired bouncers because the tomato price is too high. People are indulging and even looting tomatoes. Since we have tomatoes in the shop, we don’t want any arguments, so we have bouncers here,” he told news agency PTI.
On Sunday (July 10), a shop was seen displaying placard messages which read, “Pehle paisa baad mein tamatar” (Payment first, tomatoes later) and “Kripya tamatar aur mirch ko nahi chhuye” (Please don’t touch tomatoes and chillies). Security guards in uniform were hired and deployed to protect the pricey tomatoes, which made for a spectacle and was also covered by media.
However, it became clear with time that the brain behind the whole set up was that of Samajwadi Party worker Ajay Fauji, who now faces an FIR for the “security set-up.”
