Why have wedding ceremonies abroad, celebrate here: PM

New Delhi, Nov 26: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday questioned those families who organise weddings in foreign countries, and urged people to hold such functions within India.

In his 107th episode of his monthly broadcast programme of 'Mann Ki Baat', the Prime Minister said, "The wedding season as well has commenced now. Some trade organisations estimate that there could be a business of around Rs 5 lakh crore during this wedding season. While shopping for weddings, all of you should give importance to products made in India only."

"And yes, since the topic of marriage has come up, one thing has been troubling me for a long time… and if I don't open up my heart's pain to my family members, who else do I do it with? Just ponder… these days a new milieu is being created by some families to go abroad and conduct weddings. Is this at all necessary?

"If we celebrate the festivities of marriages on Indian soil, among the people of India, the country's money will remain in the country. The people of the country will get an opportunity to render some service at your wedding… even poor people will tell their children about that occasion. Can you extrapolate on this mission of ‘Vocal for Local’? Why don't we hold such wedding ceremonies in our own country? It is possible that the kind of system you want may not be there today, but if we organise such events, systems will also develop," the Prime Minister said.

PM Modi said that this is a topic related to very big families and I hope this pain of mine will definitely reach those big families.