Modi leads India's effort at setting Guinness record in Yoga

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday morning led India's attempt to set a Guinness Book of World Record in the maximum number of people doing Yoga at one venue. Barring the ‘vrikshasana', he followed the entire Common Yoga Protocol that had been put together for the record­attempting event on Rajpath to mark the worldwide celebration of the first International Yoga Day.

Making a brief statement before joining Yoga practitioners, Mr. Modi said this was not just a day­long celebration but the beginning of an era of peace and harmony. Marvelling over the recognition that International Yoga Day had brought upon this ancient Indian tradition, he thanked the comity of nations for making it possible and joining India by organising similar events world over.

Yoga, Mr. Modi said, is not just an exercise. Had that been the case, even children doing circus stunts would be called ‘yogis.’ “Yoga offers an opportunity to balance the mind and body, and helps harness an individual's inner strength,” he said; wrapping up his speech and surprising the gathering by leaving the stage rather

He then walked across the Rafi Marg­Rajpath intersection to take his position at the head of the thousands lined up to do yoga. After doing the warm­up exercises, he took a break at the ‘vrikshasana' stage – where people balanced themselves on one leg with the other folded at the knee – to walk down the rows of people doing yoga. ‘Vrikshasana' over, he was back doing the rest of the protocol for the next half­hour.

Other prominent personalities who joined Mr. Modi in attempting the record included the warring duo of Delhi politics – Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung – besides some members of Parliament from Delhi. With four members of the Union Council of Ministers leading similar yoga demonstrations in the U.S. and others instructed to do the same in their respective constituencies, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha was one of the few Union Ministers who put in a presence at Rajpath.

Till the moment Mr. Modi joined the Yoga practitioners, he kept everyone guessing on whether he would do yoga in full view of the media. Though initially organisers had said that the Prime Minister would lead the yoga demonstration at Rajpath, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had over a fortnight ago ruled it out during a formal briefing on International Yoga Day celebrations.

However, the arrangements made for camera­persons opposite the dias let the cat out of the bag. Even as the footage of Mr. Modi doing yoga was beamed live, the big screens placed all along Rajpath continued to beam footage of the four experts leading the 35­minute demonstration of Yoga for the rest to follow with a running commentary on how to do the selected exercises properly.