Sumit Kumar Singh By

NEW DELHI:As the prices of onion soar in the national capital, the talks of an ‘artificial crisis’ has emerged, and fingers are being raised at some of the policies of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for triggering the price rise.

There are allegations that the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED) had written to the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government asking it to make an advance payment in case they wanted to buy onion procured by NAFED in Nashik. In a letter dated July 24, 2015, NAFED had also informed the AAP government that transportation from the storage points at Nashik to the desired destinations shall be made available by the state governments, and that NAFED shall not be responsible for any deterioration in quality and storage loss.

The Central government had instructed NAFED to procure 2,500 metric tonnes of onion for Delhi at Rs 5 crore under the Price Stabilisation Fund, and accordingly, NAFED got the stock from Lasalgaon in Nashik at Rs 19 per kg. Packaging and transporting to Delhi would have amounted to 8 to 10 per cent to the cost, and thus the selling price would be Rs 26 per kg. Sources claim that the Delhi government was to buy the onion from NAFED and sell them in its fair price shops once the price of the commodity reached a threshold value.

But surprisingly, AAP government refused to buy the stock from NAFED. On being rejected, the NAFED also wrote a letter to Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung mentioning that Delhi government is making a mistake, and even requested him to instruct the Delhi government to get the stock. Despite requests, an adamant Delhi government decided not to take the stocks from NAFED. Instead, they procured onion at a higher price of Rs 33 per kg, and are now selling for Rs 40 per kg in 280 locations.

This has certainly bolstered the ‘artificial crisis’ theory. There are allegations that after refusing to take the stocks from NAFED at a lower price, the AAP government is now trying to win people’s sympathy by selling onion at lower rates in the Safal outlets.

The Delhi government, however, said that they have already procured good quality onion from Nashik through Small Farmers Agri Business Consortium (SFAC), a society sponsored by Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Government of India. Shockingly, the AAP government attacked NAFED claiming that they should make public the reasonable price at which it is willing to sell good-quality onion in Delhi.

When the crisis hit Delhi, the AAP government decided to provide onion at a subsidised price of Rs 30 per kg at 280 Fair-price shops and through mobile vans. They even announced that they would “do anything to bring down the rates”.

Minister of Transport and Rural Development Gopal Rai said that there is no shortage of onion in the wholesale markets of Delhi. “We decided to send mobile vans to sell onion in all 70 Assembly constituencies, which will end the scarcity of onion,” Rai said.

He also said that as per the government’s understanding with the Potato and Onion Merchant Association (POMA), the mobile vans are selling onion at model rates, as prescribed by the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC).

But all that has only turned out to be false promises, as the common people are still forced to shell out Rs 80 for one kg of onion. To make matters worse, the Safal outlets are also running out of stock in no time. This has now led to a political blame game, with both AAP and BJP training guns at each other for the price-rise.

Slamming the Central government, AAP’s Delhi convenor Dilip Pandey now says that the Centre should start selling onion at Rs 20 per kg at the Safal outlets. “Was the BJP government punishing the people of Delhi who overwhelmingly rejected the BJP in the state,” Pandey questioned.

In reply, BJP hit back at the Kejriwal government. National secretary of BJP and co-in-charge of BJP, Delhi Pradesh, Tarun Chugh has said that Kejriwal has forgotten the promises he made to the people of Delhi in the run-up to the 2015 elections.

Even the Congress has joined the war of words, with Ajay Maken attacking Kejrwial on the issue. Claiming that the chief minister’s stubbornness has resulted in the price-rise, Maken said that had the Delhi government bought the stocks from NAFED, things wouldn’t have worsened.

Maken, along with party workers, held a “Thali Peet” demonstration outside the Kejriwal’s residence at Civil Lines in north Delhi to protest against the soaring prices of essential commodities, including onion and pulses. “The AAP leader seems to be oblivious to the price-rise around him, as the prices of essential commodities have shot over the roof, making the life of the people unbearable,” Maken said.

The BJP’s Delhi unit also staged a demonstration against the skyrocketing price of onion and rise in the prices of other essential commodities at various places in the capital earlier this week.

Interestingly, when the BJP lost the Delhi Assembly elections in 1998, its inability to control onion prices were considered one of the key reasons.