At least 150 attendees at Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi's elder son Utkarsh's nuptial on Sunday pledged to donate their organs.

Utkarsh, who works with an MNC in Bengaluru, tied the knot with Yamini, a chartered accountant from Kolkata. The rituals, which started around 3pm, were held at Bihar Veterinary College ground and marked by the absence of 'band, baja, baraat'. Instead, anti-dowry songs were played and at least 350 people took pledge to get married or marry their offspring without taking dowry.

Instead of food counters, there were kiosks dedicated to Dadhichi Deh Daan Samiti (a body and organ donation organisation which Sushil Modi patronises), which saw 150 people signing undertakings for donating organs after their death.

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Contrary to the cacophony of 'normal' weddings, Vedic marriage mantras were recited by pundits and singers from Mumbai. The guests were also given a booklet on Vedic marriage mantras and rituals that were performed on the occasion.

As far as food is concerned, the guests were offered tea and served packets containing four Naivedya laddoos (generally known as Tirupati laddoo) with a 'Swachch Bharat' message written. They were asked to throw the empty packets in dustbins.

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RJD chief Lalu Prasad, whose family has been lately on Sushil Modi's line of fire, praised the "peaceful" wedding. "Band-baaja se dhwani pradushan hota hai (Band baja causes noise pollution)," Lalu told reporters.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar also praised the recitation of Vedic mantras.

Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar said he would also promote such kind of weddings in his state. "I am quite impressed by this simple wedding for which no dowry has been taken. We will promote this kind of wedding in Haryana as well," Khattar said.

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After the wedding, the deputy CM made an appeal to the youth to come forward in eradicating dowry and the practice of lavish weddings.

"My wedding was also solemnised in a simple manner in 1986 and I wanted to continue the tradition. The idea behind organizing the wedding during the daytime is to allow people to see the rituals. I believe the youth must come forward and take the initiative of organizing the simple wedding and refrain from dowry," he said.

At least 1,500 people attended the ceremony, including several union ministers and state governors.

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Arun Jaitley, Ram Vilas Paswan, Ravishankar Prasad, Radha Mohan Singh, Ananth Kumar, Dharmendra Pradhan, Harsh Vardhan, Giriraj Singh, Upendra Kushwaha and Ram Kripal Yadav, and Governors Keshari Nath Tripathi (West Bengal), Mridula Sinha (Goa), Ganga Prasad (Meghalaya) and Bihar's Satya Pal Malik were among the attendees.

Originally Published In The Times Of India