AFP, NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday hailed the first International Yoga Day as a “new era of peace”, moments before he surprised thousands in New Delhi by taking to a mat himself to celebrate the ancient Indian practice. Yoga-loving Modi led more than 35,000 people, including bureaucrats, students and soldiers, performing poses such as the half camel and cobra in a 35-minute mass outdoor yoga session beginning at 7:00 am (0130 GMT) on a New Delhi boulevard. Organisers are hoping the event qualifies for the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest yoga class at a single venue. The current title, according to the Guinness website, was set by 29,973 students in Gwalior, India, in 2005.
“Yoga is more than only physical fitness. We are not only celebrating a day but we are training the human mind to begin a new era of peace,” Modi told the crowd at Rajpath avenue. He thanked the United Natio s and the 177 co-sponsoring countries for adopting his idea for a world Yoga Day. “This is a programme for human welfare, a tension-free world and a programme to spread the message of love, peace and goodwill,” said the premier, wearing a crisp white outfit with a national tricolour scarf.
Modi then surprised the crowds by leaving the stage, removing his glasses, and securing a spot at the front of the massive session to mirror the stretches, breathing, and meditative moves beamed on giant screens along the historic avenue. He took a brief break in the middle of the session to walk around and inspect students doing yoga around him before rejoining the routine of 15 different poses, including the crocodile and “wind-releasing” posture.
The prime minister, who credits yoga for his ability to work long hours on little sleep, had been scheduled only to make a speech at Rajpath, where colourful mats were lined across the stretch that connects the president’s palace with the iconic India Gate monument.
Aerial images taken near dawn showed Rajpath, or King’s Avenue, as a sea of white with scores of people, clad in new Yoga Day T-shirts, bending and stretching in sync with the English and Hindi instructions to a background score of Indian classical music being played over loudspeakers.
Central Delhi was sealed off and carpeted, with dozens of metal detectors and multiple checkpoints erected for the big day that saw other VIPs including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal participate.
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Editor : M. Shamsur Rahman
Published by the Editor on behalf of Independent Publications Limited at Media Printers, 446/H, Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1215.
Editorial, News & Commercial Offices : Beximco Media Complex, 149-150 Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1208, Bangladesh. GPO Box No. 934, Dhaka-1000.
Editor : M. Shamsur Rahman
Published by the Editor on behalf of Independent Publications Limited at Media Printers, 446/H, Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1215.
Editorial, News & Commercial Offices : Beximco Media Complex, 149-150 Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1208, Bangladesh. GPO Box No. 934, Dhaka-1000.