Ditch the Jet, Wed in India: PM Modi

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday urged Indians to avoid overseas destination weddings and instead celebrate within the country, a day after appealing to citizens to cut fuel consumption and reduce spending on imports amid global economic uncertainty linked to the conflict in West Asia.
Addressing a gathering in Gujarat Vadodra, PM Modi said the trend of holding destination weddings abroad was growing rapidly and leading to a large outflow of foreign exchange. He said families should instead explore destinations within India for vacations and weddings.
“The moment the holidays begin, children are handed tickets to go abroad. The trend nowadays is to travel overseas, often for destination weddings. Ask yourselves: are there no places within India where we can spend our vacations, where we can teach our children about our history, where we can take pride in our own local sites,” the Prime Minister said.
Furthermore, PM Modi said that weddings held in India carried cultural and emotional significance. “When a wedding is held here in India, the very soil of our ancestors bestows its blessings upon us. India had several magnificent venues for weddings, he said.
Pitching Gujarat’s Statue of Unity as a wedding destination, PM Modi suggested that dedicated wedding infrastructure should be developed at the site. “You should now make it a point to hold your weddings right at the Statue of Unity. At every single one of your weddings held there, Sardar Sahab himself will be present to shower you with his abundant blessings,” he said, referring to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
PM Modi also reiterated his broader appeal to reduce dependence on imported goods and conserve foreign exchange in view of the ongoing global instability. He urged people to minimise the use of petrol and diesel, increase the use of public transport, electric buses and metro services, and promote carpooling.
“Those who have a car should take more people along in one vehicle,” he said, while also advocating virtual meetings and work-from-home practices in both government and private offices.
The Prime Minister further appealed to citizens to defer gold purchases “until the situation returns to normal”, noting that India spends a large amount of foreign exchange on gold imports.
“A huge amount of the country’s money also goes abroad on gold imports. Therefore, I would urge all of you, my fellow countrymen, to postpone the purchase of gold until the situation returns to normal,” he said.
PM Modi also said India had faced multiple global disruptions in recent years, including the Covid-19 pandemic, economic challenges and the escalating tensions in West Asia. He described the West Asia conflict as “one of the major crises of this decade” and said its effects were being felt worldwide, including in India.
“India spends lakhs of crores of rupees in foreign exchange to import many products from abroad. At the same time, the prices of imported goods are soaring, and global supply chains have also been severely disrupted,” he said, urging citizens to avoid “unnecessary dependence” on imported goods and activities that involve spending foreign exchange abroad.
On Sunday, PM Modi had first outlined a series of austerity-style measures aimed at shielding the economy from the fallout of the West Asia conflict.
He had called for judicious fuel use, greater reliance on metro rail services, electric vehicles and railways for cargo transport, while also reviving work-from-home and virtual meeting practices adopted during the Covid-19 pandemic. Stressing the need to conserve foreign exchange, PM Modi had also urged people to postpone gold purchases and foreign travel for a year.