Shajapur/Bhopal, March 14 (IANS) Around 200 couples tied the knot at a multi-faith mass marriage ceremony organised under the ‘Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah/Nikah Yojana’ in Shujalpur town of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday, government officials said.

According to an official information, as many as 162 newly-wed couples belonged to the Hindu community while 38 couples were from the Muslim community.

The marriages were solemnised according to the customary rituals of their respective faiths.

Chief Minister Mohan Yadav attended the ceremony virtually from his residence in Bhopal and extended his wishes to the newly married couples.

He said the state government remains committed to the dignity, empowerment, and social security of daughters across the state.

“Mass marriage is a symbol of social unity. I am delighted that during this ceremony, the marriages of 162 daughters and the nikah of 38 daughters were successfully solemnised in Shujalpur today (Saturday),” the Chief Minister added.

Madhya Pradesh Higher Education Minister Inder Singh Parmar, a veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, who represents the Shujalpur Assembly constituency, attended the ceremony in person along with local party workers and distributed gift items to the newly-wed couples.

Under the Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah/Nikah Yojana, the Madhya Pradesh government provides financial assistance of Rs 49,000 directly to the bank accounts of brides belonging to economically weaker sections to support their marriage.

On the occasion, the marriage of the son of Sita Devi Ramchandra Patodiya, Shujalpur Janpad Panchayat President, was also mentioned from the dais.

Several dignitaries were present, including District Panchayat President Hemraj Singh Sisodia, State BJP Secretary Babita Parmar, BJP district general secretary Vijay Bes, and District Collector Riju Bafna.

Before the wedding ceremony, a collective wedding procession of the grooms covered nearly 1.5 km from the Police station intersection to the venue.

Minister Parmar, along with BJP leaders and officials, joined the wedding procession and was seen dancing while wearing traditional turbans.

Security arrangements were supervised by Sub-Divisional Magistrate Rajkumar Haldar and Sub-Divisional Police Officer Nimish Deshmukh, with police station in-charges S.K. Yadav and Praveen Pathak deployed along with their teams.

–IANS

pd/khz