Their demands stonewalled for a long time by the state government, Anganwadi workers in Uttar Pradesh have devised a new way to put pressure on the powers that be. Amid chanting of hymns and drum beating, an Aanganwadi worker from Sitapur symbolically "married" a picture of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The mock wedding, solemnised in the presence of fellow Aanganwadi workers in Sitapur late on Tuesday, saw a picture of the monk-turned-Chief Minister being garlanded by the coy bride.
Mahila Aanganbadi Karmachari Sangh's District President, Neetu Singh, who got "married" said that for them this was a novel way of attracting the attention of the state government.
"Through this marriage we thought around 400,000 sisters will be benefited," she said, while informing that the Chief Minister was coming to Sitapur on Friday and that she plans to go to Lucknow with him.
If our demands are still not met, I will go to meet Yogiji on a horse, she said.
The woman who put a picture of Adityanath on her face and acted as the groom said she was happy to be part of the "novel nuptial".
The Anganwadi workers had given a four-month ultimatum to the new Bharatiya Janata Party government to address the issues raised by them but rue that even after the passage of eight months, the state government has done nothing for them.
In fact, an Anganwadi leader said that they were cane-charged brutally in the state capital once when then went to protest.