#dnaEdit | International Yoga Day: It's best if government stays out of this exercise

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s success in persuading United Nations to declare June 21 as International Yoga Day was commendable. It is understandable that the government feels bound to celebrate the Yoga Day now that it has attained an international status. Ignoring it at home would have meant that India is not paying attention to its own legacy which it had succeeded canvassing abroad. The International Yoga Day is still a new event and it needs to be nurtured. It seems that the government wants to do its bit. That is why, it is the Permanent Indian Mission at the United Nations that organises a debate on the eve of the International Yoga Day, and UN Secretary-

General Ban Ki- moon’s message is read out by Indian diplomat Vijay Nambiar, who is Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on Myanmar. In Paris, it is again the Indian Embassy that has organised an event at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Indian Ambassador in France Mohan Kumar addressed the gathering on the occasion. It is reported that 300 enthusiasts have participated in it. Last year Modi had participated in the yoga day event at India Gate in the national capital; this year he went to Chandigarh to take part in the event to mark the day. Modi’s cabinet colleagues as well as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah too took part in the yoga demonstration exercise. Officials had to mark their presence in the event at Delhi.

This opens up the question as to how the International Yoga Day is to be sustained. It would not be such a good thing if only the Indian missions abroad and the government at home were to be active in organising events for the International Yoga Day. Of course, the yoga that is being highlighted is the simple one of yogic postures that tone up the body in different ways and contribute to health and fitness. In a world which is quite self-conscious about health and youthful vigour, there can be no better way than to spread the message of yoga. But as the Modi government and other market-friendly economic reformists strongly believe it is not the business of the government to be in business, it needs to be emphasised that government is ill-equipped to propagate a cultural tradition like yoga. The observance of International Yoga Day should be handed over to private and voluntary organisations. Government should not be the chief patron of the International Yoga Day. 

Modi government should not entertain the illusion that it will spread the message of yoga of healthy living across the world. It should be realised that yoga has become a symbol of New Age living in the West for many decades now, going back to the 1970s. It should be left to the United Nations to spread the message of yoga, which has a wider network. It should not be forgotten that the Buddhist countries in Asia, from Sri Lanka to Japan, have their own yoga traditions, and it is better that yoga adapt itself to different cultural traditions. The present variant of yoga being popularised in India and in many other Western countries is confined to physical postures with the promise of physical as well as mental well being. It is necessary to allow people across the world to discover yoga for themselves and make it their own. 

The bid to turn the International Yoga Day into a soviet-style public event with an element of regimentation could prove to be counter-productive.