After onions, now potatoes in short supply

Though potatoes are relative newcomers to the Indian platter — just a few centuries — they are clearly central to our existence. That is what probably prompted Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad to famously link his political longevity with the starchy tuber’s presence in India’s favourite deep-fried savoury: the samosa. The wily Bihar politician should have sensed an imminent change in his fortunes with fried foods coming into the crosshairs of health activists.

Even if he is now aptly occupied in overseeing horticultural work in the jail where he is serving out his sentence for the fodder scam, he should be mindful of a new crisis brewing next door in West Bengal. Incensed by the mash-inations of the potato producers and distributors, chief minister Mamata Banerjee has banned export of the tubers to neighbouring states and stipulated the price at which the vegetable can be sold in her own state.

Clearly, the fiery CM feels that her potato-deprived West Bengal voters will stoically cook their jhols and torkaris without a hullab-aloo till the lobby comes to an understanding. However, the potential changes prompted by a prolonged lack of aloo for samosas should alarm not only aficionados of that snack — and lovers of other potato-centric morsels — but also the man whose name rhymes with it.