‘Yoga above everything’: PM Modi at mega event in Ranchi; watch

Ranchi: On the fifth edition of International Yoga Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted a grand event at Prabhat Tara ground in Ranchi on Friday and said it is time to take yoga to villages.

"Now, I have to take the journey of modern yoga from the cities to the villages, to the poor and tribal's house. I have to make yoga an integral part of the life of poor and tribal. Because it is poor who gets the most pain due to illness," he said while addressing an event here.

PM Modi extended good wishes to people, in India and across the globe on International Day of Yoga. "Today, lakhs of people have gathered in different parts of the world to celebrate Yoga Day. I thanked media to play an important role in promoting Yoga," he said.

"In today's changing times, our focus must be on Wellness as well as protection from Illness. That is the power we get with Yoga, that is the feeling of Yoga and the ancient Indian philosophy," he added. Expressing concern that young people are becoming vulnerable to heart ailments, Modi said, "Yoga can play a huge role in tackling the issue and hence, this year's theme is 'Yoga for Heart'."

Events to mark the day are being held across the country and several of them are being led by Union ministers, including Amit Shah, Smriti Irani, Rajnath Singh and Dharmendra Pradhan.

Modi also said the government has been working to make Yoga a pillar of preventive healthcare. “Yoga is above region, above faith, above everything," Modi told the gathering.

The BJP working president JP Nadda performed yoga, along with other party leaders and workers, at a park opposite the headquarters of the saffron party on Deen Dayal Upadhyaya (DDU) Marg in New Delhi.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla along with parliamentarians and parliament staff celebrated Yoga.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das and various other ministers were present in the event. Around 30,000 people participated in the event.

Earlier in the day, Yoga guru Baba Ramdev performed yoga along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his followers in Nanded.

Thousands of people participated in the event and performed various yoga asanas along with the Prime Minister.

Fadnavis was also seen following various yoga postures. Ramdev's organisation Patanjali has today organised programs in one lakh villages across India.

The theme of 5th International Yoga Day 2019 is "Climate Action".

The word "Yoga" is derived from the Sanskrit root 'yuj' meaning "to join", "to yoke" or "to unite". Yoga is based on an extremely subtle science which focuses on bringing harmony between mind and body. Yoga works on one's body, mind, emotion and energy.

Last year, around 50,000 people participated in the International Yoga Day event organised at Dehradun-based Forest Research Institute.

The first International Day of Yoga was observed all over the world on June 21, 2015, when over 30,000 people including Prime Minister Modi performed yoga at the Rajpath in New Delhi.

The idea of International Day of Yoga was first proposed by Prime Minister Modi during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 27, 2014.