“Yoga is above religion, caste, colour, gender and region — it is above everything. We should make efforts to take yoga from cities to villages and tribal areas. Let our motto be yoga for peace, harmony and progress,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, leading the fifth International Yoga Day celebrations at Prabhat Tara ground, Ranchi.
‘Integral part’
Stating that yoga has provided a perfect blend of knowledge, karma and bhakti , the Prime Minister noted: “I want to make yoga an integral part of the lives of the poor. Diseases make a poor person poorer; I want to take yoga from cities to the villages, to the jungles, to the poor and the Adivasis (tribals). Yoga belongs to everyone and everyone belongs to yoga.”
Union Ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani and others also held different Yoga Day events in Delhi and other cities at the same time as PM Modi.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted June 21 as International Yoga Day in 2014 on a proposal mooted by Prime Minister Modi. The International Day of Yoga is being celebrated annually on June 21 since 2015.
‘Yoga for heart’
Expressing concern that young people were becoming vulnerable to heart ailments, Mr. Modi said, “Yoga can play a huge role in tackling the issue and hence, this year’s theme is ‘Yoga for Heart’. Heart-related ailments have increased manifold in the country, for which awareness on heart care, prevention through yoga, and proper treatment are necessary.”
“Today, when the world is accepting yoga, we also have to further research on yoga; we have to unite yoga with the fields of medicine, physiotherapy and artificial intelligence,” he said.
Home Minister Amit Shah, participating in a function in Rohtak along with Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, said it was due to the efforts of the Prime Minister that that the world is now not only observing Yoga Day but making it [yoga] a part of their everyday lives.
Amit Shah tweets
“Yoga is the symbol of India’s ancient history and diversity which is showing the world the way towards a healthy life,” Mr. Shah tweeted after the event.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar was at the Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra, in Chanakyapuri, where 60 Ambassadors as well as diplomats from various missions performed yoga exercises.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla led the International Yoga Day events in Parliament House where around 400 people, including newly elected MPs, Union Ministers and Parliament staffers, participated in practising asana s (postures). President Ram Nath Kovind was also part of the Yoga Day at the Rashtrapati Bhavan’s ceremonial hall; Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu participated at an event at the historic Red Fort, where thousands of men and women, all in white, performed yoga exercises.
‘Part of curriculum’
Mr. Naidu recommended making yoga a part of the school curriculum and said doing so is necessary in the wake of changing lifestyles and the growing incidence of non-communicable diseases.
Scenes of mass yoga exercises in open grounds, parks and halls were mirrored in various parts of the country, even in the icy slopes of the Himalayas where Indian Army personnel put out their mats to perform various exercises.
Security tightened
In the national capital, Yoga Day was celebrated at various venues — with thousands of enthusiastic Delhiites performing asana s, traffic restrictions were imposed in parts of the city from early in the morning for the celebrations. Elaborate security arrangements were also put in place to ensure no untoward incident occurred.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) working president J. P. Nadda performed yoga along with other party leaders and workers, at a park opposite the party headquarters on Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg.
Also read: What yoga can teach us
