The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : 105 couples exchange wedding vows

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Monday, Jan 18, 2010
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

105 couples exchange wedding vows

Staff Reporter

Zameer Ahmed Khan organises all-expenses paid honeymoon to Ooty for the couples

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

A SOLEMN OCCASION: The former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda blessing the newly married couples at a mass marriage function at Maratha Hostel in Chamarajpet on Sunday.

BANGALORE: As many as 105 couples entered the wedlock at a mass marriage ceremony held at Maratha Hostel in the city on Sunday.

Sunday’s mass marriage ceremony attended by a large number of people, including friends and relatives of the bride and bridegroom, was described by the Janata Dal (Secular) as part of the social service rendered by party’s Chamarajpet MLA B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, who had organised a similar ceremony last year.

Not only was a feast arranged for an estimated 20,000 people, the couples were provided a mangalasutra, ear rings, a nose ring, a cub-board, a mattress and a blanket, two watches, three pairs of clothes each, besides necessary household items.

Mr. Khan, who is a transport baron, has arranged an all-expenses paid honeymoon to Ooty to each couple.

The former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and the former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy turned up to bless the couples, most of whom were residents of various slums across the Chamarajapet Assembly Constituency. Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Mr. Gowda said the mass marriage had been organised only to help the poor. “Don’t mistake this event as a stunt for the upcoming BBMP elections. The polls have nothing to do with the auspicious ceremony here,” he said.

Mr. Kumaraswamy, who greeted each of 105 couples personally and blessed them, told presspersons that the organisers had been permitted by the State Election Commission to conduct the mass marriage programme. “Programmes of this kind help the poor families, who borrow heavily for marriages and get stuck in the vicious circle of debt. Marriages must not become a burden to the poor,” he said.

Mr. Khan said he had been organising such mass marriage programmes every year. After conducting a mass marriage programme for Muslim couples last time, Mr. Khan claimed that he had organised Sunday’s event for Hindu couples.

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