KEY POINTS:
Rising onion prices across India once again threaten to trigger a political crisis as several states head into provincial and local elections over the next few weeks.
Retail onion prices that have increased three-fold to 24 rupees per kg (77c) in the national capital and other north Indian cities have revived memories of the 1998 crisis when a similar escalation ended up determining the political fortunes of at least two of four state governments at the hustings.
Major newspapers and television news networks are highlighting the onion crisis, portraying angry housewives despairing over their price and poor quality.
Rain and humidity in onion-producing states mostly in western and central India have delayed the onion harvest while excessive exports have contributed to the price increase of an item vital to all forms of cooking in the country.
"The astronomical price of onions is eating into my budget" one housewife said. Unless the government took strict measures to ensure a steady supply of onions it would be catastrophic, she added.
So grave is the onion situation as elections loom in the neighbouring northern states of Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh that even Prime Minister Manhoman Singh is said to be daily monitoring developments on this paucity front.
India has also placed its troubled relationship with Pakistan on the backburner and is buying 2000 tons of onions from its neighbour.
The humble onion has long been a barometer of national political fortunes.
Politicians are ruefully aware that voters generally equate their inability to manage onion prices with an inability to govern well. And the last thing they want is disgruntlement over onions impinging negatively on the ballot box.
The late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi successfully used high onion prices to defeat the Janata Party coalition in 1980 in a contest she jocularly labelled the Onion Election.
And in 1998, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party lost polls in Delhi and western Rajasthan state largely due to its failure to keep onion prices under control.
At the time, Rajasthan's outgoing Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekawat denied electricity prices and water shortages caused his Government's downfall; he blamed onions. "The onion defeated us," he said.
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, an "onion" beneficiary in elections seven years ago is also concerned and disturbed as her Congress party faces local corporation elections followed by assembly polls next year.
She has appealed to the federal government to come to her aid and her government has begun trucking in this most political of vegetables from onion-rich states on a "war footing" and distributing them through state-owned shops at controlled prices to prevent profiteering.
This week, she wrote to federal Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to immediately ban onion exports as Opposition parties gleefully pounce on the continuing shortages and price escalation for political capital.
Crying shame
* After rising by 50 per cent in the past six weeks, the wholesale price of onions is between seven and 15 rupees (48c) a kilo, more than twice the price a year ago.
* In 1998, a six-fold rise in onion prices led to the downfall of ruling parties in state elections.
* Voters will again be heading to the polls in the next few weeks in local and provincial elections and the current onion crisis is expected to again play a hand.
* Rain and humidity in onion-producing states, mostly in western and central India, have delayed the onion harvest while excessive exports have contributed to the price increase of an item vital to all forms of cooking in the country.
