India will celebrate the UN-designated Yoga Day on June 21
External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj
New Delhi: If any country refuses to allow India to celebrate International Yoga Day on its (that country’s) soil, then it will be celebrated at the Indian embassy in that country since the embassy is “sovereign Indian territory”, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj has declared.
In what is being seen as India’s yoga outreach and projection of global soft cultural power, the minister made it clear that India will celebrate the UN-designated Yoga Day on June 21 in all 193 member-countries of the UN.
It may be recalled that in December last year, less than three months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had proposed the idea, the UN General Assembly had adopted an India-led resolution declaring June 21 as ‘International Day of Yoga”, recognising that “Yoga provides a holistic approach to health and well-being”.
Ms Swaraj had recently unveiled the International Day of Yoga logo and had made it clear that the Indian government would go all out to celebrate the day both at home and abroad.
The centuries-old Indian system of yoga, that promotes both mental and physical well-being, has become extremely popular abroad for the past several years, but there have been cases of organisations approaching courts contending that yoga is a “Hindu” practice.
( Source : dc correspondent )
Next Story
