Bengaluru woman slams BigBasket for sending free flowers on Onam

A Bengaluru woman has slammed BigBasket for sending free flowers with her order on the festival of Onam. Sushma Iyengar took to the social media platform X to ask why BigBasket added marigold flowers as a free gift to her order of groceries. Her post has sparked a heated debate online, with a majority of respondents wondering how anyone could have a problem with flowers.

Onam is a major annual festival celebrated predominantly in the Indian state of Kerala. Iyengar, on the other hand, is based in Karnataka and is a vocal supporter of the pro-Kannada movement, going by her X history.

“So according to BigBasket , we SHOULD celebrate Onam! We like it or not is not upto us. It is upto them!” she wrote on the social media platform.

“They come and forcefully dump this on us. Will you do the same for other festivals?? Varamahalakshmi? Dasara? Deepavali?” the Bengaluru woman asked, adding: “Why give it for free for ONAM?? This is worse than conversion!”

Take a look at her post below:

Fighting demographic change or baseless argument?

Sushma Iyengar’s post comes at a time when the pro-Kannadiga movement has gained momentum. It has collected over 4 lakh views on X, along with hundreds of polarising comments.

Iyengar said that by raising the issue of free flowers on Onam, she was highlighting the demographic change that has taken place in Karnataka. But not everyone bought this argument.

“By fighting for things like these, you are diluting your rightful fight. I understand the ecosystem in Bangalore seems to be promoting Onam more than it promotes some local festivities, but blame lies somewhere else and there are different ways to handle,” wrote X user Vinay Raikar.

“You should buy from Kannadiga vegetable sellers directly and not from these platforms,” another suggested.

“Stop making everything an issue. I had received free gifts on Yugadi as well. By playing such cheap tricks you're only bringing hatred towards our language, culture and people. Let's respect everybody and their culture,” an X user wrote.

Many were critical of the post, with at least one person pointing out that BigBasket sends free gifts on all major festivals, irrespective of religion. “They send diya on Diwali, they sent diya on Ram Mandir Pran Prathistha, they sent colours on Holi. They sent treats on Christmas. They mostly do it on every festivals,” the user said.

Several X users wondered why anyone would have a problem with free flowers.

“They're literally giving away free flowers and you found a problem with even that. Insane,” a user wrote, while another said: “It makes me so sad to think someone's life is so rough that they're complaining about getting free flowers.”