Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has doubled down on his calls for austerity in light of the global impact of the US-Iran war, has spoken out against Indians holding weddings abroad.
“The minute holidays start, children are given tickets to travel abroad,” he said at an event in Gujarat, speaking in Hindi. “The trend nowadays is to travel abroad, often to attend weddings.”
“There are a lot of people here who don’t send me invitations anymore. They used to send them in the past because they would have their weddings abroad,” he said with a smile, pointing to the large number of community leaders present on stage at the inauguration of a hostel built by the Patidar/Patel community.
He added, “But now they have stopped this practice.”
“Expenses in foreign currency”
“This trend towards weddings abroad is growing rapidly; but keep in mind the fact that this entails a significant outlay of foreign currency. Ask yourselves: Aren’t there places within India where we can spend our holidays, where we can teach our children about our history, where we can take pride in our localities?” He said.
The Prime Minister – who heads to the war-hit United Arab Emirates in West Asia, along with the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Italy, later this month – has been arguing that foreign exchange reserves are protected in light of global uncertainties, especially since India mainly imports key items such as oil and gold.
He further emphasized, “It is essential that we celebrate our holidays here in India. Even when it comes to weddings, I don’t think there can be any place more beautiful or sacred for us than India.”
Prime Minister Modi has repeatedly urged wealthy Indians to avoid hosting weddings abroad.
During an episode of his monthly interaction with ‘Mann Ki Baat’ in 2023, he expressed concern over the trend of Indian weddings being hosted in countries like Dubai, Thailand and Italy, arguing that celebrating on Indian soil would keep money within the country.
A year later, in November 2024, he formalized this call by introducing the “Wednesdays in India” initiative, making India a world-class wedding destination.
Austerity Appeal and Criticism
In his speech, Modi generally urged Indians to reduce dependence on imported goods, saying global supply chains have been severely disrupted by the ongoing conflict in West Asia. He said India spends lakhs of foreign exchange on imports and called on citizens to avoid “personal activities that involve spending foreign exchange”.
This appeal was the latest in a series of austerity calls made by Modi in recent days. Indians have already been urged to avoid buying gold for a year, postpone travel abroad, and switch to working from home whenever possible, with crude oil prices rising in the wake of the US-Iran war and the closure of the main waterway, the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, the government sought to reassure citizens that there is no shortage of oil derivatives. A ministerial group headed by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said that India has reserves of crude oil sufficient for 60 days, and that oil companies in the public sector absorb losses for about 60 days. $1,000 crore per day to prevent pump prices from rising amid global volatility.
But Modi’s calls for austerity have drawn sharp criticism for being in stark contrast to his agenda.
Critics pointed out that even as he called for fuel conservation, he held roadshows in Somnath and Vadodara on Monday – his third in 12 hours – and held five roadshows in the previous five days, including in Patna and Kolkata. Opposition leaders described his messages as hypocritical, and Rahul Gandhi called them “evidence of failure” in managing the economy.
