Green jalebi, marriage procession: Farmers look at unique ways to grab eyeballs

Serving 'green jalebis' to taking out a 'baraat' (wedding procession), farmers protesting at Singhu border here are using innovative ways to communicate their grievances and demands to the central government.

A group of farmers from Mohali in Punjab have been serving special green jalebis (sweet), saying it symbolised the colour of their crops and the prosperity associated with it.

"We have been distributing green jalebis from the last few days. Nearly five quintals of the sweet are distributed everyday," Jasvir Chand, a protesting farmer, said.

"The green colour of the sweet symbolises Green Revolution as well as peace and tranquillity," Chand's companion Baldev Singh (65) said at the protest site.

"We have been peacefully protesting against the three new farm laws of the central government for over a month. Although the government has not accepted our demand, we are determined to continue the protest peacefully," he said.

Notably, many curious people queued up to taste the 'green jalebi' which is usually available in golden colour.

Meanwhile, some youths from Karnal in Haryana took out a marriage procession at the protest venue to draw attention towards their agitation.

"We thought a marriage procession will be an interesting way to communicate to the people and the government our demands and issues with the farm laws," said 22-year-old Jagdip Singh from Dabri village in Karnal.

The procession with a protester wearing the full attire of a groom and sitting on a tractor passed through the crowded highway attracting lot of merriment from the protesting farmers camping there for over a month.

Farmers mainly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have been camping at different border points of Delhi for over a month to demand repeal of the three agriculture laws, which were voted through in Parliament in September amid strong protests by opposition parties.

"We are requesting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government to give legal status to minimum support price (MSP) to empower the farmers. The government should also address our genuine concerns over the three farm laws," Chand said.

"If anyone is employed by the government, his salary is regularly revised, similarly there should be legally guaranteed purchase of crops since farmers invest not only their hard work, but also whatever scarce resources are there at their disposal," he said.

The new farm laws have been projected by the central government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.