When was the last time the Centre invited students, research scholars, teachers, industries, start-ups and professionals to suggest ideas for anything?

The price of the tomato is on the rise. Prices are anything between Rs 80 and Rs 100 a kilo. Complimentary tomato slices on spicy poha dishes in eateries in Maharashtra have reportedly been replaced with smaller pieces or nothing. A shadow looms over the bhel and pav bhaji. Tomato-less rasams are a thing, but you’d need tamarind as a stand in. “Does our finance minister eat tomatoes?” asked Priyanka Chaturvedi of the Shiv Sena. “Does she have anything to say about the rising prices of tomatoes?” she continued. Last time in Parliament, on the back of rising onion prices, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said something about not being too fond of onion and garlic.

A layered truth

Tomatoes are not onions. They are not known to have toppled governments in India, onions have. Everyone will tell you how the 1980 elections came to be known as the "pyaaz elections" after Indira Gandhi's Congress-I defeated the Chaudhary Charan Singh government. One of the chief issues in those elections was onion prices, though the whole truth is a layered thing. The Congress took out advertisements in newspapers blaming the incumbent government for not keeping prices on check. Ten years later, the BJP lost the Delhi Assembly elections to the Congress because of onions. Prices had risen to Rs 65 per kilo. "India’s onions become political tools" read the headline in the Chicago Tribune. "Voters teary over onion prices imperil India's ruling party", was the CNN headline.

TOP priority

In July of 2013, a poor crop in Maharashtra sent prices soaring. "Record high of Rs 90 per kilo" read some headlines from October, others claimed "Rs 100 and rising". Now, onions before polls have properties distinct from onions after polls, different aftertaste. General elections happened in 2014. In 2013, the BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was in a jokey mood. He said at one election rally: “When Congress leaders went to plead with onions, onions said that like you peeled off the nation, we have decided to peel you off.” Another rally, another joke from him: “Here were bets on whether Sachin will score a century or the price of onions.” Come election season, 2018, this time, seeking a second term, the PM was full of gravitas when he spoke about his “TOP priority”. TOP was the acronym for tomato, onion and potato. No, tomato is not onion, so no hackles are up. In uncharacteristic fashion, the BJP has even announced the Tomato Grand Challenge Hackathon. Even then, general elections are around the corner, not the best time to get some tomato on the face. Right?