CHANDIGARH: Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday visited Madina village in Sonepat district of Haryana, where he attended the wedding of farmer Sanjay’s daughter, three years after his earlier visit to the same village.
In 2023, he had planted paddy and driven a tractor in the field of the same farmer.
Accompanied by Member of Parliament from Rohtak Deepender Singh Hooda, Rahul Gandhi reached the wedding venue and was given a traditional welcome. Farmer Sanjay and fellow villagers tied a white ceremonial turban (pagri) on his head before he proceeded to meet the family and local residents.
Gandhi stayed for nearly an hour to participate in the marriage ceremony of Tanu, the daughter of farmer Sanjay. He blessed the bride and gave a gift and ‘shagun’.
Gandhi interacted with family members about Haryanvi wedding traditions. He also tasted traditional sweets and had milk ‘choorma’. Sanjay and the village sarpanch had gone to Delhi on February 25 to personally invite Rahul Gandhi to the wedding.
A party leader said that the villagers were excited to see Gandhi at the wedding of the daughter of an ordinary farmer. Earlier, Deepender Hooda along with other Congress leaders, received Gandhi on his arrival in Madina village.
Earlier, Gandhi had visited Madina village on July 8, 2023, where he interacted with farmers and farm labourers. During that visit, he reached Sanjay’s fields where farmers were busy sowing paddy. Gandhi entered the water-filled fields by rolling up his trousers and participated in paddy sowing. He also drove a tractor to plough the field.
After that visit to Madina village in Haryana, Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Member of Parliament from Wayanad, had hosted Sanjay and a group of farmers from the village for lunch at their Delhi residence.