Foreign Media Expressed Surprise on The Expenditure of Anant-Radhika Wedding

• By Thetripurapost Desk, Mumbai
• Jul 13, 2024
• 321

On the night of 12th July, the world's 10th richest man Mukesh Ambani got his son married at Jio World Center in Mumbai. Many big personalities including Britain's two former Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Tony Blair attended this wedding.

This wedding, which was going on for months, was discussed as much in India as it was abroad. Media houses from America to Britain expressed surprise at the expenditure incurred in the wedding.

On the wedding of Ambani family, American media house NYT raised questions on the economic inequality in India. NYT wrote that the wealth displayed in the wedding which lasted for a year attracted everyone's attention.

This wedding has given a glimpse of the life of India's rich. With a fast growing economy and a stimulating government, the wealth of India's billionaires has increased rapidly. They have become the masters of the Indian economy. They control everything from phone networks and hospitals to supermarkets.

NYT has quoted Oxfam and The Rise of Billionaire Raj's report and said that in the year 2000, there were only 9 billionaires in India. Now there are 200 of them. According to Forbes, they have one trillion dollars; which is one-third of the country's GDP, while in the same country a large population lives below the poverty line.

The Times compared India's inequality to 19th century America, a period in which American businessmen who became billionaires through fraud, corruption and exploitation of the people flaunted their wealth, while the people were forced to live in poverty.

Britain's media house BBC has written that Mukesh Ambani is the 10th richest man in the world. According to Forbes, his wealth is 115 billion dollars. However, he did not reveal how much he is spending on his son's wedding.

3 Falcon-2000 jets were hired to bring guests from across the country for the wedding. Due to the wedding, Mumbai's roads were sealed for several hours. This caused problems for street vendors.

Qatar's media house Al Jazeera has written that too much money has been spent on Ambani's wedding. The media house has presented two aspects of the wedding. In one, quoting a Reliance official, it has been written that this wedding shows India's growing economic status.

At the same time, the opposition's point of view has been presented in one, in which, quoting Kerala leader Thomas Isaac, the expenditure on marriage has been described as a sin committed on the poor and on the earth.

CNN has written that Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant's wedding ceremony started on 29 December and is still going on in July. In India, it is common for wedding ceremonies to last for several days, but a wedding lasting for 7 months is rarely seen or heard. This report describes every event from the engagement on 29 December to the wedding on 12 July.

The report further states that people are excited about Anant Ambani and Radhika's wedding, but there are some criticisms behind it too. According to them, this wedding points towards the growing inequality between the rich and the poor.

The Ambani family realises this too, so they have also done charity work before some ceremonies. Earlier this month, they organised a mass wedding for 50 poor couples. These couples were gifted jewellery as well as household items and groceries for a year.

British newspaper The Guardian has compared the Ambani family to the British royal family. 'Windsor' is the last name of the British royal family. This name is named after the royal residence.

The newspaper has written that Mukesh Ambani is the richest person in India. He has spent recklessly in the last few years. His house Antilia is the most expensive house in the world. More than Rs 800 crore was spent on his daughter's wedding in 2018. So much money has not been spent on any wedding in India till date.

Now his younger son is getting married, the celebrations for which have been going on for several months. The British newspaper has written that this spectacle, which is going on for more than 5 months, is estimated to cost Rs 5,000 crore. This is a huge amount, but it is only 0.5% of Ambani's wealth