The usual ‘band, bajaa, baraat’ were missing, but the celebrations appeared to be intact as Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann married Dr Gurpreet Kaur from Pehowa in Kurukshetra, Haryana, here on Thursday.
It was a private ceremony without the usual crowds that are so prevalent at a big, fat Punjabi wedding. Despite the lack of details, images on television and Twitter showed Mann and his bride at the Anand Karaj ceremony.
Raghav Chadha, an Aam Aadmi Party colleague, also shared images on Twitter of Mann wearing a yellow turban with ‘kalgi’ and a gold kurta-pyjama, while Kaur wore a red dress.
There were also photos of the groom at his festooned home, walking under a ‘phulkari dupatta’ held up by Chadha, and at the ceremony.
Mann and Kaur were both smiling in one of the photos, and another showed them sitting together for lunch after the wedding rituals.
Mann and Chadha were pictured on a sofa in one of Chadha’s posts. As the caption, he quoted a Punjabi song of celebration, “Saade veer da vyah, Saanu gode gode chah.”
The ceremony was attended by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Chadha, AAP MP Sanjay Singh, and other leaders.
Kejriwal acted as an elder from Mann’s family and actively participated in the wedding ceremonies.
Kejriwal later congratulated the couple in a tweet.
“Wishing Bhagwant Mann and Gurpreet Bhabhi a happy marriage,” Kejriwal said.
Mann (48), the state’s first chief minister to marry while in office, married Dr Gurpreet Kaur of Pehowa in Kurukshetra, Haryana.
Mann is married for the second time. He divorced his first wife in 2015; they have two children, Seerat Kaur (21) and Dilshan (17).
Dal Makhni, Chana Masala, Karahi Paneer, Navratan Biryani, Jeera Onion Pulao, Kalonji Wale Aloo, and Continental dishes were served for the main course, and Moong Dal Halwa, Fresh Fruit Trifle, and Ice Cream were served for dessert.
At the chief minister’s residence in Sector 2, strict security measures were in place.
Gurpreet Kaur (30) tweeted a photo of herself with the caption, “Din Shagna Da Chadya (the day of marriage has arrived).”
She also thanked AAP leaders for their messages of congratulations.
According to party insiders, Mann’s mother and sister, as well as a few other guests, including Kejriwal and his family, attended the Sikh-style wedding.
Manpreet Kaur, Mann’s sister, was dressed in a magenta gown.
“Today is a day of immense happiness that my younger brother and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann ji is getting married and is making a new beginning,” Kejriwal told reporters at the airport before the wedding.
“May God grant him a happy married life, and may both (the couple) always be happy.”
“A new chapter in CM Bhagwant Mann’s life will begin today,” Chadha said. I want to congratulate Mann saab’s family, especially his mother and sister. It will be a minor event. Only family members will be present.” “We are all relieved that joy has returned to Mann saab’s family after such a long time.” It was his mother’s dream to see her son settle down. “That dream will come true today,” he told reporters.
Gurpreet Kaur earned her MBBS in 2018 from a private university in Haryana. She has two older sisters who have moved away.