Thousands of citizens celebrated International Yoga Day in India this Friday, a day of mass exercises sponsored by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, around a practice that has been elevated to a state issue under the command of the Hindu nationalist leader.
On the tenth International Day of this ancient discipline, Modi himself led a session under water in the disputed Indian Kashmir, in the midst of a controversy over the alleged forced participation of officials and schoolchildren that the authorities categorically denied.
“The number of people who practice yoga around the world continues to increase, as does the attraction to this discipline.”, estimated the recently re-elected prime minister, reflecting on the “historic journey” of this celebration.
Modi reminded those gathered, that “They bravely challenged” the adverse weather in front of the iconic Dal Lake in Srinagar, who was himself the one who proposed to the United Nations that June 21 be celebrated throughout the world.
The prime minister has the help of videos with his own digital avatar to broadcast his favorite poses, and the day also had the weight of the Indian state apparatus, with ministers and officials leading yoga sessions throughout the country.
From the powerful Minister of the Interior, Amit Shah, in his home state of Gujarat, to the head of the Environment portfolio, Bhupender Yadav, who after the session assured without hesitation that “The solution to all the world’s problems is in the Indian way of life”according to a press release.
At more than 4,500 meters above sea level, in the state bordering China with Sikkim, soldiers practiced asanas separated from the snow by thin mats, while the Indian Navy shared images on the social network X of its personnel practicing the popular ‘salute in the sun’ at sea level, aboard their warships.
But beyond events led by politicians or a complement to the martial activities of the Indian Army, the tenth International Day of Yoga was also celebrated in numerous parks, schools and centers in this country of some 1.4 billion people, which considers the practice as his gift to the world.
Yoga dates back to the ancient Vedas, the Hindu scriptures that date back to 1,500 BC and form the basis of the Hindu religion, but India had to wait for the arrival on television in the early 2000s of the Indian guru Baba. Ramdev so that the popularity of this practice really exploded.
Ramdev, currently on trial in the Supreme Court along with his company Patanjali for promising miracle cures and discrediting Western medicine, also celebrated the day surrounded by hundreds of people in the northern city of Haridwar.
Modi affirmed today that India has been setting records year after year on this day, since 35,000 people participated in 2015 in a gigantic session in New Delhi, and 2024 could not be less: the city of Chandigarh registered the “highest number of professionals of health by practicing the common yoga protocol.”
This was stated in X – without indicating how many participated – by the Ministry of AYUSH, dedicated to yoga and other traditional practices such as Ayurveda.
Source: Gestion
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