Darjeeling, July 31 (Siliguri Chronicle) – Even as heavy rain lashed Darjeeling on Wednesday, bringing landslides and blocking NH10 multiple times, a different kind of message spread through the hill town — one of hope and awareness.
Volunteers took to the streets, handing out purple roses as part of a silent yet powerful campaign against human trafficking. The flowers didn’t fall from the sky, but from the hands of those determined to stand up against a crime that continues to disrupt lives in quieter, more dangerous ways.
Mankind in Action for Rural Growth (MARG), a Darjeeling-based social organisation, observed the United Nations World Day Against Trafficking in Persons on Wednesday by distributing handcrafted purple roses to government officials and members of the public to raise awareness about the issue.
“With the monsoon making rallies impractical, we decided on a quieter but symbolic gesture by distributing purple roses,” said Nirnay John Chhetri, founder of MARG.
The choice of the purple rose holds a deep and symbolic meaning.
“Roses, by nature, were never purple. Purple roses were bred and made exotic by human will. They exist not for their evolutionary purposes, but for the pleasure and profit of others,” said Chhetri.
Purple roses were first developed in the 1800s through hybridisation, mainly by crossbreeding European and Chinese rose varieties.
“Women and child victims of trafficking are no different from the purple rose. They are reduced to mere objects of pleasure and sources of profits,” added Chhetri.
The use of the purple rose as a symbol against human trafficking began in 1989, drawing attention to the sex trafficking of Filipino women and children.
MARG volunteers crafted the roses by crocheting and knitting, and distributed them along with a message.
“Volunteers from MARG, including students of Ghoom Girls’ Higher Secondary School, retired Loreto Convent teacher Deepa Pradhan, IPS officer Neeloo Sherpa, and my family members hand-crafted the roses through crocheting and knitting and helped us in our cause. Each rose carried a message of awareness,” said Chhetri.
The symbolic “shower” of purple roses reached beyond Darjeeling, spreading to Bijanbari, Siliguri, Jaigaon, and Mekhliganj in the Dooars.
Members of Students Against Trafficking (SAT), Youth Against Trafficking (YAT), and Villagers Against Trafficking (VAT) — grassroots groups formed by MARG — took part in the campaign.
Over the past decade, MARG has set up more than 30 such anti-trafficking clubs and has been actively working against human trafficking since 2010.
“To date, we have rescued over 800 victims, including children who were sexually abused,” said Chhetri.
