On the evening of July 9th, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported a peculiar case in which it was claimed that a vegetable seller had to hire bouncers to safeguard pricey tomatoes from theft. Citing the steep prices of tomatoes, the official Twitter handle of PTI made this claim.
The tweet read, “A vegetable vendor in Varanasi, UP has hired bouncers to keep customers at bay when they come to buy tomatoes, whose price has increased massively over the past few days.” The tweet also included a video in which the ‘shopkeeper’ gave reasons for the same while talking with the news agency.
The ‘vegetable’ vendor Ajay Fauji said, “I have hired bouncers because the tomato price is too high. People are indulging in violence and even looting tomatoes. Since we have tomatoes in the shop, we don’t want any arguments, so we have bouncers here. Tomatoes are selling for Rs 160 per kg. People are buying 50 or 100 gms.”
Based on this tweet, several prominent Twitter handles including that of Former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav took a jibe at the Union government. SP Chief Yadav shared the PTI video making the same claim. He made a light-hearted comment stating that the BJP should provide Z-plus security to the tomatoes.
भाजपा टमाटर को ‘Z PLUS’ सुरक्षा दे. pic.twitter.com/k1oGc3T5LN
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) July 9, 2023
However, the fact is that the PTI’s tweet is misleading. The shopkeeper in question, Ajay Fauji aka Ajay Yadav, is a political worker affiliated with the Samajwadi Party (SP), which was not disclosed in the tweet. He has been conducting various activities over the last few days over the high price of vegetables, especially tomatoes, and it was only a part of such a stunt. But PTI presented him as a real vegetable vendor who hired two bouncers to protect tomatoes.
Ajay Fauji has a long history of political association with SP, and is an active leader. He is the son of the veteran SP leader Satish Fauji, who was a district president of the party.
This omission of political affiliation, in PTI’s tweet, can lead readers to believe that the incident was simply an extraordinary occurrence involving an ordinary vegetable seller.
However, considering his political affiliation, it is obvious that it was a political gimmick aimed at targeting the ruling government. By presenting it as a unique event on the ground, the PTI misleads readers by missing the underlying political motives behind the act.
Apparently, several Twitter users highlighted this major omission in PTI’s tweet and how it could mislead the general public. Some of the Twitter handles also shared Ajay Fauji’s picture with SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav. Later, the news agency deleted the misleading tweet after being called out by netizens.
Dear @PTI_News why haven't you mentioned that the person is Samajwadi Party leader @AjayFaujisp?
— Ankur Singh (@iAnkurSingh) July 9, 2023
Do you really think he's a vegetable vendor? https://t.co/AXqO5kV785 pic.twitter.com/7tQtxqNhGd
However, in its report, the PTI itself mentions Ajay Fauji’s political association with the Samajwadi Party. His political association with SP is evident from his Twitter handle in which he himself claims to be an Akhilesian by heart. Additionally, on his Facebook profile, he claims that he works at Samajwadi Party.
In most of his photos on social media, Ajay Fauji is seen with an SP’s green and red scarf around his neck, which was also seen in the video, making his political link clear. Despite that, PTI presented him as a real vegetable seller.
The PTI report also highlighted that he was the same SP leader who earlier cut a tomato-shaped cake in Varanasi on the birthday of Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav.
Earlier, on the 1st of July, Ajay Fauji pulled a similar political gimmick when he celebrated the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s birthday with a tomato-shaped cake to highlight the soaring prices of the vegetable, in Varanasi. Similarly, he has a track record of pulling political gimmicks in the past and was also arrested.
In February 2020, he was arrested by the Varanasi police for breaching PM Modi’s security. The media back then had reported that one Ajay Yadav, son of former Samajwadi Party district chief Satish Fauji, dangerously jumped on the road as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s convoy came near. He also waved a party flag and a black jacket in protest.
Ajay Fauji’s social media profiles on Facebook and Instagram are filled with work he has been doing as a loyal party worker, and there is no indication that he is a vegetable vendor by profession. His posts also show that in April this year, he was busy campaigning for his wife Sanju Yadav for the municipal elections in Seer Govardhanpur in Varanasi. He is also a former member of the District Planning Committee of the UP government.
Update: PTI issues clarification
Later in the day, PTI posted a tweet claiming that it came to know that Ajay Fauji is an SP leader later. It tweeted, “Earlier today, PTI tweeted a story about a vegetable vendor in Varanasi hiring bouncers in light of high price of tomatoes. It has since come to our notice that the vendor is a worker of the Samajwadi Party, and his motive for giving us the information was questionable. We have, therefore, removed the tweet.”
Earlier today, PTI tweeted a story about a vegetable vendor in Varanasi hiring bouncers in light of high price of tomatoes. It has since come to our notice that the vendor is a worker of the Samajwadi Party, and his motive for giving us the information was questionable. We have,…
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 9, 2023
Informing that the tweet has been deleted, PTI said that it erred in not verifying the antecedents of the source for the story.
However, the claim that PTI didn’t know that the ‘vegetable vendor’ was a SP leader is questionable, because, in their own wire report, they clearly mentioned that he is a leader of the Samajwadi Party. They even mentioned that he is the same leader who had cut a tomato shaped cake. The PTI story was published by several media houses.
