ADVERTISEMENT

Legions of strategic analysts and defence pundits are right when they opine that surgical strikes would be quite messy at a time when the enemy is already alert and expecting them. Scores of culinary analysts and food pundits also correctly aver that scores of desi dishes–on both sides of the international border—lose their punch without a hint of tomato tanginess. So the decision of farmers of Jhabua district in Madhya Pradesh to carry out a ‘Subzical Strike’ against Pakistan by stopping export of their deliciously meaty tomatoes , thereby forsaking the huge premium their variety fetches there, was timely. It may be recalled that even after the Uri incident, Jhabua’s patriotic tomato farmers had done the same but their action went largely unnoticed as India launched its military Surgical Strike.The insatiable demand for Indian tomatoes in Pakistan is apparent from the fact that as recently as September 2018, nearly 22,000kg of the red vegetable valued at Pakistani Rs 40 lakh was smuggled across the LoC to Occupied Kashmir but seized on its way to Lahore . With no casualties and a patriotic disregard for lost profits, India has presumably delivered a decisive blow to thousands of curries across the border, as Pakistan is the largest importer of Indian tomatoes. Pakistan can indeed now be asked, “How’s the (roghan) josh?”