Groom in Uttar Pradesh gets bulldozer as wedding gift

The groom said that his family had not made any demands and that the gift was a surprise for him as well

It is quite common to see cars, household goods and similar items being given as gifts by the parents at the marriage of their daughters to the grooms but in Uttar Pradesh, the parents gave an altogether different gift to the groom - a bulldozer.

The guests, who attended the wedding of Yogendra Prajapati and Neha at Deogaon village in UP's Hamirpur district were taken by surprise when they saw a brand-new bulldozer outside the venue.

Some among them thought it might have been brought there to demolish something, but then they witnessed the key offering ceremony which was followed by a puja of the bulldozer by the groom.

The unusual gift was also part of the cavalcade when the wedding guests left with the bride the next day.

"My son-in-law works in the Indian Navy....had he been given a car, it would have been kept unused.....the bulldozer can be put to use and the couple may even earn some extra money," Neha's father Parashuram said.

Yogendra said that his family had not made any demands and that the gift was a surprise for him as well. "We are against dowry and there was no demand from our side....the bulldozer is a surprise for us," he said.

According to reports, the bulldozer had been hired by a local contractor for a digging work near the village.

The use of bulldozers to demolish 'illegal' structures and homes of mafia elements and others by the Yogi Adityanath government after it assumed office after 2017 Assembly polls hogged the limelight in the media. The demolitions invited sharp criticism from the opposition parties and rights activists, who alleged that the machines were being used to demolish homes of members of a particular community.

UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath was also referred to by the saffron activists and BJP workers as 'Bulldozer Baba.'