As far as reasons to stall a wedding go, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad can now take credit for coming up with one of the most bizarre ones.
An Indian Express report says that activists from the organisation turned up to oppose the wedding between 28-year-old building firm manager Vishal Mitra and 27-year-old bank probationary officer Ritu Dubey in Bhopal.
The VHP activists claimed that since Mitra had played the guitar at a function in a Bhopal church in 2013 he was Christian, and also claimed that his to-be wife was showing signs of “mentally converting to Christianity” by refusing to wear a bindi or pray to Hindu gods.
Dubey’s mother had initially opposed the marriage claiming the groom was Christian. But despite that and the fresh opposition from the VHP activists, the additional district magistrate married the couple since they were both adults and had consented to the union.
In the end, even the VHP activists were happy with the marriage because both bride and groom had declared themselves as being Hindu before being married. As the local VHP chief Devendra Rawat pointed out it was really all they wanted.