Mausam and Kayesh at Kotwali in Malda after their wedding on Saturday. (Pradip Sanyal)

Malda, Dec. 5: The wedding was supposed to be a private affair but at least 12,000 people turned up at the gates of the Khan Chowdhury home to wish the bride — their MP, Mausam Noor.

The 28-year-old Congress leader, one of the younger faces in this Lok Sabha, married her law school classmate Mirza Kayesh Begg this morning.

The bride liked the throng at the gate. “I am very happy, especially because so many people have come here today to give me their blessings,” Mausam said.

She had said earlier that she wanted the wedding to be “for the people of Malda”.

The gathering, however, surpassed the expectations of her family. They had estimated 8,000 guests but had around 12,000 eating the lunch of pulao, rice, naan, vegetable curry, daal, fried brinjal, paneer butter masala, fish, meat, salad, chutney and rasogolla.

About 450 hands were involved in cooking the feast, shepherding the guests in batches of 600 and serving them the food. The lunch got over at 5pm.

“Khoob bhalo khaiyechhey (they fed us well),” said a satisfied 75-year-old Arjun Mondal. He came from Old Malda to wish the couple.

The nikaah, where Mausam’s uncle and Malda South MP Abu Hashem Khan Chowdhury was the wakil , was not open for all to witness and was held before schedule.

Mausam wore a green sari with silver zari work. She also wore her grandmother’s antique emerald choker, her late mother Ruby Noor’s diamond tiara and a long gold necklace from the groom’s family. Kayesh wore a cream coloured sherwani.

“I miss boro mama (the late Congress MP and railway minister from Malda, A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury), my mother and my father. They would have been happy to see me get married in this house,” Mausam said, emerging after the ceremony with Kayesh around 11.30am.

While Abu Hashem Khan Chowdhury was the wakil — he helped solemnise the wedding — Syed Mansoor Ali, Kayesh’s brother-in-law, and Qazi Amirul Islam, his maternal uncle, were the witnesses. Qazi Abdul Hai from Sujapur officiated the wedding.

Kayesh, also 28, and his family arrived on the Gour Express today and headed straight for Kotwali.

Before the ceremony, the two families had a spot of fun while negotiating the den mohor, a token amount promised by the groom to the bride’s family. “It is just a custom now. The bride’s family wants to raise the amount and the groom’s side wants to bring it down. It was settled at Rs 86,786 worth of gold mohors or coins,” said Sonia, Mausam’s sister.

Congratulatory messages came from Mausam’s colleagues in Parliament. Congress president Sonia Gandhi sent her a bright pink silk sari and a white shawl for the groom along with a long congratulatory letter.

A party was held in the evening for officials in Malda. Another will be held in Calcutta on December 13, where Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is an invitee. The menu had 19 items including mutton biryani, chicken chaap and fruit salad.

The bride wore a red-and-green Benarasi and gold jewellery, and the groom a suit.