26/12/2025
Indian politicians have had an ambivalent relationship with weddings. While on the one hand, their own weddings might have been simple and quiet affairs, their family weddings tend to be very low-key affairs or the talk of the country. The latter often attracts criticism. Take, for instance, the 1995 wedding of VN Sudhakaran, the nephew of J Jayalalithaa (then the Tamil Nadu CM), the cost of which is still disputed. One of the grandest weddings of the time, it obviously hit the headlines. While Chennai watched the jewelry and ornate sarees on display with awe, many expressed disdain at the crassness of the wealth on display. Many political observers say that this led to a dip in her popularity–Jayalalithaa lost the next elections.
On the other side of the spectrum is the Gandhi family, whose weddings have stood out for being simple. Recently, the photos from Indira Gandhi’s wedding at the family home in Allahabad made news, along with the simplicity of the wedding, what stood out was that gender equality was practiced even then, many many years ago. Like their mother, Rajiv, and Sanjay Gandhi, too, had simple weddings, as did Priyanka at their official residence, 10 Janpath.
When politicians do choose large grand weddings, they often choose to do it in their constituencies, making it an inclusive affair inviting as many as 1 lakh guests. Times have changed, though - when Union Minister Shivraj Singh’s son Kartikey got married, it was an intimate celebration at the magnificent Umaid Bhavan, followed by a power reception in Delhi. A few years ago, Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Seetharaman chose to keep her daughter’s wedding to a key official from the PMO extremely private and the couple didn’t even step out for photo ops.
Unlike Bollywood/ cricket stars such as Anushka and Viraat and Deepika-Ranveer, politicians have typically stayed away from going abroad, even for an intimate wedding. Or it’s been a pre-wedding celebration in international shores, but most of that has been hush-hush. An exception happened recently when the Pawar family chose Jumeirah and Sofitel Bahrain for a destination wedding.
