'Wed in India': Modi's call to the rich to hold destination weddings in country
Dehradun, Dec 8: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said India needs a movement like 'Wed in India' on the lines of 'Made in India' and asked affluent industrialists to hold at least one destination wedding in their families each year in Uttarakhand saying it will help the hill state emerge as a wedding destination.
Addressing the inaugural session of the Uttarakhand Global Investors Summit at the FRI here, he said it has become fashionable among millionaire and billionaire business families to go abroad for destination weddings.
Modi had given a similar call during his last Mann Ki Baat programme to affluent business families to hold destination weddings in the country instead of going abroad.
"There is an old saying that marriages are made in heaven. But then why are young couples going abroad for their wedding instead of coming to the land of gods (Devbhoomi). My prescription to the young and rich couples is that there should be a movement like 'Wed in India' on the lines of Made in India," he said.
"Wed in India," Modi said, adding if the practice of holding destination weddings in Uttarakhand begins and continues for five years it will emerge as an international wedding destination.
"If rich business families start holding their family marriages in Uttarakhand once a year for the next five years and even if 5,000 marriages start taking place here in a year, a suitable infrastructure will grow and it will emerge as a major wedding destination," he said.
"India has great power. If you decide collectively and make a beginning, anything can happen," he said.
Describing Uttarakhand as a land full of potential, Modi said, "As many have said, Uttarakhand has contributed a great deal to the development of an aspect of my personality. If I get a chance to return something to this land, nothing like it."
Modi spent months in the hills of Uttarakhand during his formative years and makes it a point to mention this phase of his life indirectly in his public speeches whenever he visits the state.
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Uttarakhand Assembly passes censure motion against opposition over women's reservation bill
Dehradun (PTI): The Uttarakhand Assembly passed a censure motion against the Congress and other opposition parties on Tuesday for allegedly blocking the passage of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, in Parliament.
The motion, which expressed the House's formal disapproval of the opposition's conduct, triggered a massive uproar by Congress members, leading to the adjournment of the House sine die.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Subodh Uniyal moved the censure motion, citing the "uncooperative attitude" of opposition parties toward the bill seeking 33 per cent reservation for women in legislative bodies.
Addressing a special daylong session convened specifically to discuss "Nari Samman -- Rights in Democracy", Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the bill's passage would have benefitted every political party.
Dhami noted that after delimitation, the number of Assembly seats in the hill state would have gone up to 105, with 35 reserved for women. He added that the number of Lok Sabha seats from Uttarakhand would have risen from five to seven or eight.
"The opposition fears that if women from ordinary households enter politics, the shops of dynastic politics run by certain parties will shut down," the chief minister claimed.
He compared the opposition's conduct in Parliament to the assembly in Mahabharat where Draupadi was insulted. Dhami further likened the opposition's behaviour to the "arrogance of Ravan".
The chief minister highlighted his government's initiatives, asserting that Uttarakhand was the first state to implement a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) to protect women's rights. He said the UCC freed Muslim women from practices like "halala", "iddat", polygamy and child marriage.
Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya questioned the technical feasibility of the bill, calling the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) claims of providing reservation by 2029 "misleading".
He argued that the bill is linked to census and delimitation processes. The Congress leader said the 2026 census would conclude by 2027 and the final data publication would take two more years.
"The delimitation process will take another six years. The actual implementation of this bill is not possible before 2034," Arya said, describing the move as a strategy to protect the BJP's "political ground".
The session also saw high drama outside the Assembly gates, where Congress MLA Virendra Jati staged a protest, demanding the payment of "outstanding" dues to farmers by sugar mills.
Jati arrived at the Assembly's main gate with a tractor-trolley loaded with sugarcane and dumped it on the road. The move brought the traffic to a halt, prompting traffic and security personnel to intervene and clear the area.
Women Congress workers also staged a demonstration against the "anti-people policies" of the state government.
