Couples choosing ‘love marriage’ face many challenges, says Udhayanidhi

Presiding over the wedding of an inter-caste couple in Chennai, Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Thursday listed the challenges faced by couples when they go in for a ‘love marriage’.

“You all know how difficult it is in a love marriage. And I am very well aware [of it]. Initially, the man and the woman should be united in love. After the man convinces the woman and the woman convinces the man, they have to convince each others’ parents to make them accept [their decision],” Mr. Udhayanidhi said.

The couple would have to obtain the consent of not only their parents, but also members of their extended family, he said. “Many of them would say a love marriage is not suitable for their family. [They would say] ‘we don’t know about the man and what his educational qualifications are’, and the same goes for the woman, and so on,” he added.

“Many [relatives] would come in the way [of the wedding]. Saipriya and Jeenathpriyan [whose wedding Mr. Udhayanidhi presided over] have overcome many such obstacles for their wedding today. Mine is also a love marriage, and that is why I am telling you this,” he said.

Offering words of advice to the couple, Mr. Udhayanidhi said: “Even if this is a love marriage, I have a request. There would be many testing times from now on. The first one or two months would be smooth. Before there is a problem, you should understand each other and remain good friends. Not just husband and wife...you should remain friends.”

Calling upon the couple to follow in the footsteps of late social reformer ‘Periyar’ E.V. Ramasamy, Mr. Udhayanidhi said: “You should give up self-respect when required; and you should not give up self-respect when it is not necessary to do so. You should live with the self-respect that Periyar taught us.”

He advised them to discuss with each other before taking any decision, and stick to the decision once they have taken it.

He reiterated Chief Minister and DMK president M.K. Stalin’s call for couples to give their children Tamil names.

The Deputy Chief Minister said applications were being received for the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai programme, and added that the Chief Minister would take steps to ensure that more women benefited from the programme.

Calling upon his party members to prepare for the 2026 Assembly election, Mr. Udhayanidhi said they should work towards making Mr. Stalin the Chief Minister for a second successive term.

“In 2026, we should achieve a bigger victory than in 2021. The DMK should win more than 200 seats,” he said.