International Yoga Day brought Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal together at Rajpath but they kept a distance from each other, even as Congress leaders gave the event a miss on Sunday.
Although the Congress claimed it deliberately skipped the event due to “its political undertones”, sources said the party was not even extended an invite to attend the event organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) central government.
Mr. Jung was seen seated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and government functionaries on the western side of Rajpath.
Mr. Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia chose to perform yoga with the aam aadmi on the opposite side of the avenue.
“Yoga is an activity which is good for both body and mind. There should no politics over it,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
Congress's Delhi chief Ajay Maken, while choosing not to comment on whether the party was extended an invite by the Prime Minister's Office, said the party had deliberately not attended the function.
“We live in a country with such tremendous cultural heritage that it makes it difficult to co-opt even a small chunk of it. That being said, Sunday's event was certainly an attempt to politicise yoga by the BJP-led central government,” the former Union Minster told The Hindu. The Congress leader questioned the Centre's “commitment to other United Nations-sponsored events such as International Women's Day”.
