Monday, December 14, 2009

Big fat akali wedding

A young politician organised a free-for-all pre-wedding bash

The days of simple marriages are almost over! In the past few decades, politicians across the country have been competing to outdo each other in holding extravagant wedding ceremonies.

A few years back, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav spent millions on his daughter’s wedding. The chief of the AIADMK, Jayalalithaa Jayaram, invited over 100,000 people at her foster son’s wedding party in Tamil Nadu. The sumptuous ceremony became the talk of the town.

Taking a cue from there, a young Akali politician and sitting MLA Bikramjit Singh Majithia organised a free-for-all pre-wedding bash, which was attended by senior politicians including chief minister Prakash Singh Badal. The deputy chief minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, was also present at the auspicious moment to bless the influential bridegroom. Several ministers, MLAs and the office-bearers of the SAD, BJP and SGPC were seen interacting with other high-profile guests.

Incidentally, the day coincided with the 50th wedding anniversary of Badal Senior. Not missing an opportunity to deliver a speech on the occasion, he reminisced about how simple weddings were in his days and how times have changed.

The event, dotted with unprecedented opulence and grandeur, began at Majitha near Amritsar. About 30,000 guests wined, dined and danced to the bhangra tunes in a humongous pandal covering some 12 acres of land. They feasted on delicacies, including cakes, jalebis and traditional halwa. Vikramjit's marriage with his Delhi-based bride was held on November 25.

And for this purpose, Seonk — a neglected village on the outskirts of Chandigarh — was spruced up for the post-wedding celebration. The two existing link roads of the villages were repaired and widened. Besides, two more new roads were constructed to make it easy for the guests to reach the private farmhouse. The whole village was decked up on the big occasion.

Besides, the state public works department requisitioned the services of several excavators and rollers to level adjoining farms to make way for temporary parking adjacent to the posh farmhouse, owned by a senior bureaucrat.

The villagers are happy that some development work took place in their village. “At least, we are getting good roads,” a villager said. They are not paying attention to reports appearing in local newspapers criticising the politician for wasting tax-payers’ money in building roads and lanes. Like Senior Badal, the villagers know that the Indian wedding industry worth Rs 1,25,000 crore is getting bigger and fatter with each passing year. The industry is growing at an average rate of 25 per cent per annum.

The marriage ceremony, kicked off with a splendid function with an estimated 30,000 invitees in Amritsar on November 22, was planned as a 10-day event spread all the way from Majitha (Amritsar), Delhi and finally back to Chandigarh.

The lavishness being doled out by politicians on weddings is just getting larger. Even the brother-in-law of deputy chief minister didn’t lag behind in displaying his wealth.

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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative



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