PM Modi: If we hold marriages in India, country’s money will remain here | India News

NEW DELHI: Making a pitch for holding destination weddings within the country instead of overseas venues, PM Modi in his Mann ki Baat address on Sunday said this would promote the development of such high-end infrastructure in India and lead to job creation.
“Since the topic of marriage has come up, one thing has been troubling me off and on 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, amid the people of India, the country’s money will remain in the country,” Modi said.

He added that if rich families did so, people here would get an opportunity to render some service or the other at such weddings and even the poor would tell their children about the 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. This is a topic related to very big families. I hope this pain of mine will definitely reach those big families,” the PM said.

Highlighting that the success of Swachh Bharat Mission had inspired the ‘Vocal for Local’ campaign, he said this was opening the doors to a developed and prosperous India as it strengthened the economy and was a guarantee of employment. “This provides equal opportunities to both urban and rural people. This also paves the way for value addition in local products, and if there are ups and downs in the global economy, the mantra of ‘Vocal for Local’ also protects our economy,” he added.

Modi said the sentiment of becoming vocal towards Indian products should not be limited to only festivals and should extend to weddings. He said some trade organisations had estimated that there could be business of around Rs 5 lakh crore during this wedding season.
The PM also highlighted the declining trend of cash payments during Diwali as more people were now making digital payments. He urged people to try not to use cash at all for a month and make payments only through UPI or other digital mediums. He also asked such users to share their experiences and photos.