Farmers At Punjab-Haryana Border Offer Roses To Commuters, With A Message, We Love This Country

In yet another symbolic gesture to make their message clear, the farmers who had been protesting against the new Agri reform bills distributed roses to commuters at the Punjab-Haryana border in Shambhu.

The farmers who paid floral tribute to farmer leader Chhotu Ram on his birth anniversary on Tuesday also gave roses to commuters saying "By giving roses, we want to send a message to the government that we love this country as much as anyone else does."

ANI

Sir Chhotu Ram, who was born in Garhi Sampla in Rohtak district had championed farmer rights during the British Era.

?????? ?? ????????!
?????? ????? ????? ??? ?? ?? ?????? ?? ??????? ?? ???? ??? ?? ????? ???????? ???? ?? ????? ??????? ?? ???? ???? ?? ?????? ???? ???? ?? ???? ???
#RememberSirChhotuRamInModiEra #TelanganaNews #DigitalKisan #DigitalKisanMorcha pic.twitter.com/1MIyIgYCDs

¡ª Kisan Ekta Morcha (@Kisanektamorcha) February 16, 2021

Though he was born on November 24, 1881, Ram had announced that Basant Panchami should be celebrated as his birthday.

ANI

On Tuesday, protesting farmers at the Singhu border also remembered him by raising traditional as well as anti-farm laws slogans.

Kulveer Singh, a farmer and a member of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), said, "Farmers have been protesting against the three farm laws for the last three months but our government is not thinking about it. Today the farmers are living with pain. They are also suffering due to lack of water to irrigate their fields. Low market price and now three anti-farm laws have been introduced. the situation would have changed had Chhotu Ram been alive today."

Farmers sending out message of love

This is not the first time the protesting farmers have used flowers to send out their message.

Recently, the farmers at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border planted flower saplings along a road stretch, saying it was their response to "iron nails" fixed in the area by the police.

BCCL

"The police had fixed iron nails for farmers but we have decided to plant flowers for them," farmers leader Rakesh Tikait had said.

The farmers were responding to the stringent security measures like multi-layered barricading, concertina wires, that had come up along with iron nails cemented on roads around the protest site in the wake of the January 26 violence in Delhi.

AFP

The installation of the iron spikes and nails had come under heavy criticism from the farmers and opposition parties who said the government should have put such measures in place at the border with China to stop its army from intruding and occupying Indian land.