Onion: A look back in the history of India's political hot potato

India grows two types of onions: the red with the shelf life of two weeks and pink with a shelf life of nearly six months

About 500 onion traders in Nashik began an indefinite strike against government policies this week, protesting against the Centre’s recent move to increase export duty on onions by up to 40 percent.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) imposed the customs duty on onions exported out of India as part of efforts to tame the local price of the commodity.

The protest has brought all onion auctions at Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) in the district to a standstill. Nashik is home to Asia’s largest onion market in Lasalgaon and this strike is likely to affect onion supplies across the country.

However, this crisis is nothing new. Onions make Indians cry in cycles annually. According to reports, India grows 30 million tonnes of onions, making it the second-largest producer in the world after China. However, rabi onion crops harvested during April-June reportedly accounts for 65 percent of India's onion production and meet the demand of consumers till the kharif crop is harvested in October-November.

India grows two types of onions: the red with the shelf life of two weeks and pink with a shelf life of nearly six months.  The August-to-February cycle brings mostly red onions.

“There is no scientific method to store the rabi onion crops. By the time it is June or July, most onions are spoiled. So, this is a recurrent problem. The lack of balance between demand and supply creates the crisis,” Siraj Hussain, a former Union agriculture secretary, told Moneycontrol. According to Hussain, the government needs to invest in technology to ensure a store such commodities which perish quickly.

Political impact

The humble onion has proved itself to be a crucial political commodity.  Its political footprint was established in the 1980 general elections when Indira Gandhi, who had suffered a defeat after she proclaimed Emergency from 1975 to 1977, rose back to power by making onion prices a populist rallying cry. But in 1981, onion prices shot up to Rs 6/kg. During the winter session of Parliament, Lok Dal’s Rameshwaram Singh walked into the Rajya Sabha wearing a garland made of onions.

In 1998, Congress leader Chhagan Bhujbal sent a box of onions to the then Maharashtra Chief Minister Manohar Joshi during Diwali. Joshi was forced to make onions that were being sold for Rs 45/kg in Mumbai available for Rs 15/kg to ration cardholders.

The humble onion again showed its influence in 1998, when it was regarded as the deciding factor in the Delhi and Rajasthan assembly elections. The late Sushma Swaraj-led government faced the wrath of angry citizens. In 2010, the Manoman Singh regime had to ban the export of onions to tackle rising prices.