In an excellent display of nationalism, a bridegroom from Bihar’s Purnia district delayed his wedding celebrations by more than two hours to participate in a mock drill at the state level for exercising civil defense with rising tensions at the borders with Pakistan.
Sushant Kushwaha, the groom in question, was to take his baraat to Araria, some 40 km away, at 6 pm on Wednesday. But he decided to delay and attend a civil defence exercise first, leaving his family and wedding party waiting till 8 pm.
It is my wedding day today but that is not the only reason that I feel so elated. Today, the Indian Army crossed over into Pakistan and made missile attacks on their terror camps. It is a moment of pride that I get to be part of this drill,” Kushwaha said to NDTV.
The groom had already given his family a day’s notice that he was going to take part in the drill, after learning his district was one of the 244 in India chosen for the Operation Abhyaas readiness exercise.
Following his completion of the drill, Kushwaha went home and afterwards continued with his wedding ritual.
Emphasizing his sense of responsibility, he went on to say, “Soldiers tend to leave their wedding location to head out and fight on the frontiers. If the need is, we too will do so.”
The mass-scale exercises, conducted on May 7 under the Ministry of Home Affairs’ leadership, practiced air raids, fire fighting, and rescue missions. They coincided with India’s military response under Operation Sindoor, after the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 civilians.
