Sanjay Raut, the leader of the Shiv Sena (UBT), criticised the Maharashtra government over the price of onions and said, This government has no right to be in power. Onion is the food of Poor. Farmers eat onion with roti which we call bhakri. Farmers of Maharashtra are not able to buy onions. People cannot eat onions, so this government has no right to be in power. This is not Maharashtra's culture, Sanjay Raut said.
Onion farmers in the state protested on Monday in Maharashtra's Nashik region after the Central government recently levied a 40% export levy on the basic food. According to a notification sent out by the Finance Ministry on August 19, onions now carry a 40% export tariff till December 31, 2023.
Earlier on August 11, the central government started releasing the staple vegetable from its buffer stock. The central government had earlier decided it will maintain 3 lakh tonne of onions in the 2023-24 season as buffer stock. In 2022-23, the government maintained 2.51 lakh tonne onion as buffer stock.