In what was promptly construed by the Opposition as an effort to avoid minority ire, most Bengal Ministers, including Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday, avoided the State Government’s official Yoga session held at Netaji Indoor Stadium.
Not only this, the much-hyped yoga session was reduced to a mere Yoga seminar leading even the sole State Minister Sadhan Pande who attended the programme to wonder if things had any political undertone. “It is difficult for me to understand as to why the yoga session was suddenly changed into a discussion on Yoga. Where people were called to practice Yoga the best thing was to know about its good effects by practicing the art instead of holding discussions.”
Neither Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee nor her senior Cabinet colleagues were available to explain the reason behind sudden yet “tactical change” on the part of the State Government on the World Yoga Day celebrations.
“Elections are big compulsions and the ruling party knows it. Their leader cannot take the risk of hurting the minority sentiments. Simultaneously they cannot take the risk of angering the Central Government by publicly rejecting yoga, particularly when most of their senior leaders are sunk neck-deep in chit fund scams. So a seminar on yoga and not a practice was the best thing they could have done” a senior Pradesh Congress leader said.
Meanwhile, Union Ministers like Ravi Shankar Prasad, Harsh Vardhan and Babul Supriyo took part in yoga sessions in various parts of Bengal.
While Prasad attended yoga celebrations at Sports Authority complex at Salt lake, his Cabinet colleague Harsh Vardhan joined a similar session at Kharagpur. Junior Union Minister Babul Supriyo attended a Yoga camp at Asansol.
“Yoga is not a symbol of any particular faith. It is a symbol of mankind and brotherhood,” Prasad said, adding that yoga was a “symbol of cultural heritage of our country.” It imparted moral values regardless of faith, nationality or community, he maintained.