Andhra Pradesh eyeing a number of records on Yoga day in Vizag

Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Jun 21 (PTI) Commemorating the International Yoga Day on Saturday, the TDP-led NDA government is attempting to set a number of records here including breaking the previous highest attendance.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the celebrations from RK Beach in the port city and was a part of the record-setting bids. Lakhs of people joined him on the sea shore by the Bay of Bengal.

The Yoga Day, being celebrated by several countries across the world, has been themed as "Yoga for One Earth, One Health" and the southern state aims to enter into the Guinness Book of world records, which includes organising the largest yoga session.

It is aiming to bag a Guinness World Record with the participation of five lakh people in a single yoga session at one place, i.e. Vizag.

The NDA alliance government is aiming to eclipse the record of 1.47 lakh people taking part in the 2023 Yoga Day event in Gujarat's Surat. Officials said 1.5 lakh Yoga volunteers turned up on Saturday at Vizag by 5.45 am and an equal number was expected to be added by 7 am.

Besides mobilising lakhs of people, the Telugu state is aiming to organise yoga sessions at more than one lakh places with the participation of two core people on a single day across the state, among others.

On Friday, 25,000 tribal children set a Guinness World Record for "most people" performing Suryanamaskar (sun salutations) simultaneously at a single venue.

"Today (Friday), 25,000 bright young stars from our tribal communities have created history by performing Surya Namaskar together, setting an extraordinary Guinness World Record of 'Most People Performing Sun Salutations Simultaneously at a Single Venue’," Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said late on Friday.

This was a powerful message of wellness and harmony from the children of Andhra Pradesh to the world, he said.

In the run-up to the yoga day, the southern state embarked on 'Yogandhra', a month-long campaign to create awareness about yoga with several activities linked to the ancient practice originating from India.

As part of 'Yogandhra', 15,000 yoga competitions were held from the village level to state level, and 5,451 master trainers have contributed to this effort. Over one crore participants of various yoga programmes were certified.