Issue and Opposition: From 2004 to 2013, food prices in India increased by a staggering 157 percent. The situation became so bad that despite being a leading vegetable-producing country globally, in the decade beginning in 2004, India’s vegetable prices increased by 350 percent. The main contributing factors to these skyrocketing vegetable prices were supply chain shortages and illegal hoarding. Supply suffered because of erratic and excessive precipitation that interfered with the sowing season and destroyed the crops. To secure the food supply, the central government had to rely on the import of food and vegetables. The high prices continued well into 2014 for the above reasons with tomatoes priced at Rs. 60 per kg. Other vegetables used in daily cooking were priced high as well, thus hard-hitting Indian consumers across the country. The dilemma action demanding lower vegetable prices targeted PM Modi and his political party at the center.
Dilemma Action: In Indian culture, Raksha Bandhan is a popular festival when sisters tie the rakhi around the wrists of their brothers. In return, the brothers promise to take care of the sisters. The Tomato Rakhi protest was a spin on this tradition. Women members of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation and Indian National Congress sent rakhis made of tomatoes and other vegetables to PM Modi to protest against the excessively high vegetable prices and inflation. Women gathered by the roadside and tied tomato rakhis on the wrists of the passersby in Jubilee Garden, Vadodara, to draw media and public attention and mock Modi and BJP. This dilemma action was part of a larger campaign targeting Modi and the BJP for the economic condition in India.
Outcome: The humorous action attracted national media and public attention in India but lowering the prices of food and vegetables did not result from this action. The action was enacted in August 2014. According to the economic reports, the Consumer Price Index started showing some decline in vegetable prices. However, in absolute terms that meant little since the price hike was already disproportionately high. Some decline in prices was recorded once the weather conditions stabilized and supply shortages were somewhat resolved. Modi announced several measures to help retail supply and promised punitive action against hoarders. However, it will be incorrect to say that these promises and actions directly or indirectly resulted from the dilemma action described here since many of the declarations from Modi came before the action was executed in Vadodara.