India and the yoga jamboree

It is hard to think of any day sought to be commemorated becoming caught up in a web of controversy as the International Day of Yoga, which was internationally marked for the first time last Sunday after Prime Minister Modi called upon the UN to set apart June 21 every year to recall the benefits of the ancient Indian practice.

As an observance, the IDY was a huge success with thousands and the PM himself taking to the yoga mat. But it became clear enough that the hullabaloo was not about yoga, but about Yoga Day, with opponents of the Modi government accusing it of seeking to expropriate the ancient spiritual system as part of the BJP’s heritage. Regrettably, that was indeed the message being given out by the party through its spokespersons.

There was also a little “Hindu” muscle-flexing in the air by members of the saffron brigade giving the show a soft Hindu communal touch, though people of all religious denominations participated in the yoga event. Hindutva voices ridiculously tried to equate yoga with Indian nationalism, patriotism and Indian citizenship.

A new low was hit when senior BJP and RSS leader Ram Madhav tweeted to suggest that vice-president Hamid Ansari had given the so-called national event the miss. Subsequently, he withdrew the posting with an apology, saying he had not realised that Mr Ansari was indisposed.

This was as gross as it was communal, for the suggestion was that were the V-P not unwell, it was incumbent upon him to make a public show of lending support to the yoga spectacle, for the Sunday show was officially promoted to be nothing but that.

Mr Madhav went to the unfortunate extent of castigating the Rajya Sabha TV channel (since the V-P is the Chairman of the Upper House) for giving short shrift to the yoga jamboree. This was a falsification of facts, as the robust rebuttal of the RSS leader’s claim by the channel showed.

Mr Ansari’s office also clarified that he was indeed not unwell but had not participated simply because, as per protocol, he takes part in events only when officially invited by a ministry to do so. The massive yoga exercise was administratively handled by the ministry for Ayush.

It was left to the PM himself to strike a non-partisan stance. In a constructive speech, he held that yoga belonged to the whole world. The budget for health and for Ayush has seen a substantial cut. We’ll soon know if the official push for yoga is confined to managing an event on a given day.