TCN News
Over 250 students and peace loving citizens gifted Red Roses? to each other with the pledge of love across religion ,caste ,sex, class ,gender and point of view to demand peace in India at the Kolkata press club today .
They all wore stickers saying ‘soldiers ,students and all people from Kashmir to Kanyakumari are equally precious’ .
This meeting was organised in the wake of the killing of jawans in Kashmir and the terrorising of Kashmiri students all over the county .The red rose campaign was launched to bring people together and spread communal harmony .
It took inspiration from the white rose resistance movement launched by German students to oppose Nazism in the 1940’s .
The students and citizens were from Jadavpur University Women’s Conclave, Presidency University, Loreto College, St Xavier’s College, Bethune, Calcutta University & other organizations like Ek Packet Umeed, , Prantakatha, Apne Aap, Swayam, Anjali, Gender Benders, Sangharsh, WINGS, Parichiti, All Bengal Imam Association, Know Your Neighbor, maitree network ,Bangladesh Bharat Pakistan People’s Forum.
“Soldiers and students and all people from Jkanyakunari to Kashmir are equally important” said Ruchira Gupta and Ayush Sarda founder of apne aap and Ek packet Umeed at the meeting.
Chairperson for the child rights project, Ananya Chakravorthy said, “Women and children lose when there is most violence.”
Sehrish Hazarika and Rimjhim Sinha offered shelter to any student felling unsafe and appealed to students from all over India to take the movement forward by exchanging roses wherever they are with people who are different religion, ideology, caste to celebrate the differences and stay united with peace and love .
A Student from Titagarh asked students in the room to send messages on WhatsApp which do not promote hate or stereotypes.
The students also spread the campaign by putting up peace message with the symbol of a rose and the hash tag #liveandlove on their social media accounts.
This is was followed by a song by Juhi Khatu and poem by Ayush Sarda founder ek packet umeed.
Other speakers were: MD Yahya – chairperson of all Bengal Imam association; Paromita Chaoudhary – from Maitree network; Shahina Javed – from Roshni youth forum; Upoma- Gender Benders; Rimjhim Sinha – sangharsh ( presidency university ); Sehrish Hazarika – Jadavpur university women’s conclave; Rita Chakraborty – Bangladesh Bharat Pakistan peace forum; Rehana and Rahul – Swayam youth network; Swati Sanyal – Maitree network and Bappaditya Mukherjee -Pranthakatha
