Stir & feast: Special Muslim spread reaches farmers at Singhu

New Delhi : A beautiful sight of communal harmony and brotherhood was witnessed on Thursday as the aroma of a wedding spread welcomed the protesters sitting on a demonstration against the new agricultural policies for eight days at the Singhu borders with Haryana.Zarda — a special sweet rice dish — integral to Islamic weddings was served to farmers sitting at Delhi’s Singhu border — for over a week now. The traditional yellow-coloured fluffy rice dish made with milk and sugar, and flavoured with cardamoms, raisins, saffron, pistachios or almonds was welcomed by the groups at the border.Speaking to IANS, Mohd Arif, who was among the group which was preparing and serving this, said, “This is a special dish across Punjab and is an integral part of all our weddings and celebrations.”All this went on as Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan witnessed the fourth round of talks between the central government and the leaders of various farmer unions.Arif also added that he is hopeful that the meeting would end on a positive note and the farmers would get the relief.The protests at the Singhu border began after morning prayers on Thursday. The security of the area has been beefed up with addition of one more layer of barricading.The farmers have been sitting on protest for the last eight days at Delhi-Haryana and Delhi-Uttar Pradesh borders. Thousands of farmers have been camping at the Singhu border, while several other groups have blocked the entry at the Delhi-Haryana border in Tikri, the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur and Chilla borders.