Knowing one146;s onions

There is a spectre haunting the political establishment in these days of electoral frenzy and it goes by the Latin term, Allium cepa. Or good old pyaaz, vengayam, kandha, or what you will. With the assembly elections upon us once again, nobody is watching the grocery bill with more housewifely rigour than the main political parties in the fray. Every upward or downward movement in onion prices is occasion for jubilation or despair, depending on whether it is the party in power or the party in Opposition.

In Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Digvijay Singh anxiously monitors the price line. Five years ago, when the state had gone to the polls last, his opponents tried to trip him up on the prohibitive price of onions, blaming their disappearance on the state government8217;s economic ineptitude. The wily Diggy Raja and Co fought back spiritedly saying that it was the Centre8217;s wrong policies that had left the country in an onion soup. Well, he was saved his tears on that occasion but, today, fighting for his third term in office, he confronts again the potential for damage inherent in the enigmatic bulb. The Delhi government too is in the grip of a similar scare as its chief minister, Sheila Dikshit, visits mandis and reassures citizens that the modest rise in onion prices at present is just a hiccup in the delivery curve. There is a messianic quality about her message. After all, it was the onion factor that had helped her party 8212; the Congress 8212; to steal Delhi from the BJP8217;s jealous arms in October 1998. The BJP had, on that occasion, tried every trick to make up for its lost onions. It imported them by the tonne, splashed defiant ads and brought in a brand new chief minister. But, sadly, nothing worked. It was not the Congress that had defeated the party, it was the onions. While 1998 marked the apogee of onion politics, the country8217;s political class has long wrestled with this vegetable. In 1980, Indira Gandhi just had to touch the onion nerve to win 353 seats in the 1980 General Elections 8212; her Emergency sins all forgotten. Nine years later, it was the BJP8217;s turn. The rise and rise of prices helped the party shore up the political dividends of its temple campaign. The result: a jump from two Lok Sabha seats in 1984 to 85 in 1989.

So it should surprise no one that the onion continues to occupy pride of place in electoral scenarios. How did this strange alchemy of gastronomy and politics come about anyway? The secret lies in the central role that the bulb from the lily family plays in Indian cooking 8212; from the richest of fare to the most spartan; from the most prosperous households to the poorest. Given this reality, the tears and fears caused by the humble pyaaz will continue to dominate politics 8212; at least at election time.