Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sheds no tears over onion prices

Chennai: The prices of onions may be skyrocketing, but they have made no dent on the finance minister's household because they "don't eat a lot of onions." Her startling revelation in Parliament on Wednesday took the nation by storm even as people are shedding tears over the ruling prices of staple ingredient in their diet.

"I don't eat a lot of onions and garlic, so don't worry. I come from a family that doesn't care much about onions and garlic," she said while replying to a question by Supriya Sule. There may have been laughter in the Lok Sabha, but the tears are real as onion prices continue to rule high, even touching Rs 140 per kg in markets around the country, like in Chennai's Koyambedu vegetable market.

The FM"s comment drew a caustic response from the former finance minister P. Chidambaram who is just out of jail on bail. "Does she eat avocados?" he quipped, dragging in the trendiest vegetable on the high tables.

The finance minister did get her own back at PC for his criticism and reminded him of his own insensitive remark of 2012. "What was statement given by one of the finance ministers when in 2012 price rise was high…'When urban middle class can buy a bottle of water for Rs 15 and ice cream for Rs 20, why do they make so much noise about price rise'," she said in Rajya Sabha on Thursday. "These are the people accusing me of being elitist, this government of being elitist. I condemn this approach," she pointed out.

Prices of onion have crossed Rs 100 per kg because of less production and the minister said the government has taken several steps to check rising prices, including a ban on exports, imposition of stock limit, import and transfer of onion from surplus to deficit areas.

The onion prices situation made fertile ground for memes and even TikTok kind of imagination that was featured with a diner eating his rotis and dal while taking licks of an onion and garlic hanging in front of him.

The minister had earlier explained that there are severe structural problems related to onions. "One is we don't have scientifically advanced methods of storing...So that is one of the things, so we need to have greater scientific storage facility for onions we have started working on it," she said