As India makes elaborate preparations to lead the world in celebrating the first International Yoga Day on June 21 with great pomp and show, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday rebuffed criticism that it was an anti-minority event.
While making it clear that participation in the event will be voluntary, she also termed as “unfortunate” her party leader Yogi Adityanath’s remarks that those “opposing Surya Namaskar should drown in the sea.”
“I do not agree with his views and it is unfortunate that he made such a statement,” she said even as she dismissed the controversy surrounding the Government’s move to drop Surya Namaskar from the yoga protocol to be performed across the world.
“Surya Namaskar has 12 yoga postures, of which some are not advised for people suffering from health problems like backache,” she said.
Giving details of the scale of preparations, she said that out of a total of 177 countries which are co-sponsoring the event, 47 are Islamic countries. “They have co-sponsored the event and expressed their desire to participate in yoga sessions being organised in Indian Missions. Hence, linking yoga to a specific religion is not right,” she said.
“I feel that apprehensions in certain sections of the minority community were due to lack of information,” she said, adding, “ if the Muslim community in India wants to perform it after breaking their fast, then they are free to do it. The time limit is only for Government functions. Other organizations are free to do it whenever they want.”
The Minister was briefing reporters on the grand arrangements being made by the Government both in the country and abroad to mark the day adopted by the UN General Assembly In December last year as International Yoga Day at the initiative of Prime Minister Modi.
While hundreds of thousands of health enthusiasts from 193 countries will perform various ‘asanas’ (yogic postures) at different places across the globe, around 35,000 people , including students, NCC cadets and CRPF personnel will perform it in an hour-long programme at Rajpath on the D- Day starting at 6.40 am.
The programme will be attended by the Prime Minister along with several Cabinet Ministers, Ministers of States, MPs and also diplomats and foreign nationals.
“The Prime Minister will grace the occasion and address the gathering, but he will not perform yoga,” said Swaraj. India hopes that the event will find a place in the Guinness book of world records.
Describing yoga as the “soft power” of India, she said: “The Indian initiative is significant at a time when the world is engulfed in violence. Our goal is that the world attains peace and it also brings down violence in the world.”
Replying to another query, Swaraj said that with Pakistan rejecting visa to an Indian yoga instructor, India will now hold an in-house event at its High Commission in Islamabad to mark the day on June 21.
“There is no problem. They refused them visa, we made our own arrangement there. But the yoga event will definitely happen there. We will conduct yoga inside the premises of our Embassy,” said Swaraj.
She will lead the events at the United Nations in New York to be attended by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and the president of the General Assembly and Uganda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sam Kutesa.
The MEA has been leaving no stone unturned to ensure the success of the programme which will be held in all the 192 countries except strife-torn Yemen where India does not have its Embassy.
To mark the occasion, the Government would issue a postal stamp, Re 100 and Re 10 coins.