International Yoga Day 2021: Congress and BJP inhale hate, exhale anger

Congress and BJP sparred as the nation celebrated the seventh International Yoga Day. In a veiled attack on the Modi government, Rahul Gandhi tweeted, "It’s #YogaDay Not #HideBehindYogaDay".

Union Minister of State for AYUSH, Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju took strong umbrage at it and said on Twitter, "I'm ashamed of him because he will never. Whole world has gracefully accepted YOGA but he ridicules! I'm proud that after 6 decades of dynastic rule, India's Prime Minister @narendramodi Ji convinced the United Nations and 21st June is celebrated as #InternationalDayOfYoga."

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi got into a row with BJP leaders over his "Aum" and "Allah" remarks on Monday.

"Yoga will neither become more powerful by chanting Aum, nor Yoga's power will be lessened by uttering Allah," Singhvi tweeted early in the morning triggering a spate of angry reactions from BJP leaders and also some stinging remarks from others on social media.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar accused Congress of looking at yoga through the prism of religion and continuing to practise the politics of "appeasement". "The Congress looks at yoga through the prism of religion and is proving that it is even today engaged in politics of appeasement," Javadekar said in a tweet.

BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya hit out at the Congress leader, saying that the greatness of yoga does not end with remarks made by some "chhutbhaiyya" (petty) leaders and cautioned against what he called displaying a "narrow" mindset.

After the row, Singhvi hit back tweeting "Those engaged in looting crores of donations of devotees in the name of Shri Ram are trying to get over their embarrassment by raising questions on my faith. They should know yoga is part and parcel of India since time immemorial. Neither the knowledge stream of yoga nor my faith needs any certificate from any cunning nationalist. Beware of false campaigns."

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, "Modern yoga is not something that needs to be seen in connection with any particular religion or spirituality. It should be seen as a form of healthcare.".

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that yoga remains a ray of hope in the Covid-hit world. He said that yoga has proved a source of strength and poise for people during the pandemic and helped people to muster confidence and strength to fight with it.

He added that the frontline 'Corona warriors' made yoga their shield and people, doctors and nurses took to yoga to deal with the effects of the virus.

The Prime Minister also called for reaching the ancient technique to every person while keeping intact its foundation and core.

While the Culture Ministry organised yoga programmes at 75 heritage locations across India on the theme 'Yoga, An Indian Heritage' to mark the International Day of Yoga, many Chief Ministers including BJP's Yogi Adityanath, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Vijay Rupani and Congress' Bhupesh Baghel sent messages

The seventh International Yoga Day was televised because of coronavirus pandemic had a Common Yoga Protocol (CYP), a specified sequence of yoga drills of about 45 minutes.

On this occasion, Modi launched the mYoga app, developed by the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, Ministry of Ayush in partnership with the World Health Organisation, that will provide many videos of yoga training and practice based on common yoga protocol in many languages.

The government said that Yoga Day activities have also reached more than one lakh villages on Monday. Around 190 countries observed the day including people at Times Square in New York.