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Sonepat: Rahul honours 2023 promise made to farmer, attends his daughter’s wedding
He savoured traditional dishes, including churma and sat with Sanjay’s family. Sanjay, who has just half-acre of land, said he is overwhelmed with the love and gesture shown by Rahul Gandhi
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, arrived in Sonepat’s Madina village on Tuesday to attend the wedding of farmer Sanjay Malik’s daughter.
Accompanied by Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda, Gandhi reached the venue under heavy security cover, where he received a traditional welcome. Sanjay and fellow villagers tied a white ceremonial turban (pagri) on Gandhi’s head before he proceeded to meet the family and local residents.
He savoured traditional dishes, including churma and sat with Sanjay’s family. Sanjay, who has just half-acre of land, said he is overwhelmed with the love and gesture shown by Rahul Gandhi. “Nowadays, leaders attend weddings in the families of industrialists, businessmen but Gandhi showed love by attending the wedding of a marginalised farmer,” he added.
The visit highlights a personal rapport Gandhi has maintained with the village over the last three years.
On July 8, 2023, during an impromptu stop while travelling from Delhi to Shimla, Gandhi waded into the muddy fields of Madina to help Sanjay and other farmers transplant paddy. Clad in a T-shirt and trousers, he spent hours driving a tractor and discussing agrarian distress with the local workforce, including women labourers, despite the rain.
That encounter evolved into a lasting association. Shortly after the field visit, Rahul and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is also the Wayanad MP, hosted Sanjay and a group of farmers from Madina for lunch at their Delhi residence. During that interaction, the farmers’ families shared a meal with the Gandhi family.
Sanjay said that he and the village sarpanch had extended his daughter’s wedding invitation to Gandhi last week but they were surprised after getting information about his arrival today. He said that Rahul Gandhi asked his daughter about her educational qualification, besides extending best wishes to her.
As per family sources, Rahul Gandhi had gifted a LED to Sanjay’s daughter Tanu Malik in the wedding.
Meanwhile, Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda, who accompanied Gandhi during the wedding, wrote on X, “In an era where prominent leaders vie with one another to attend the weddings of wealthy industrialists, Rahul Gandhi today fulfilled his promise of ‘kanyadaan’ by attending the weeding of farmer Sanjay’s daughter.”
