191 countries to celebrate Yoga Day : Sushma

New Delhi, June 19 (IANS) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Sunday that 191 countries will celebrate International Yoga Day on June 21 and that the participation will be doubled this year.

“Among 193 member countries of United Nations, 191 will be celebrating Yoga Day this year. Only Libya and Yemen are not celebrating it as you know what is the condition of these two countries,” she told reporters at a press conference on achievements of the NDA government on foreign front in its first two years.

She also said that particiaption on Yoga Day will be doubled this year and is being celebrated more in foreign countries compared to India.

Sushma Swaraj said that she was to visit Poland to particiapate in Yoga Day celebrations but due to health reasons she cancelled her visit.

She noted that India played a lead role in declaration of June 21 as International Yoga Day with 177 countries voting in favour.

The proposal in this regard was mooted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his first address to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015.

Stressing on yoga’s secular nature, Baba Ramdev, who led about 35,000 people in a rehearsal ahead of the International Yoga Day at the Rajpath on Sunday, said yoga was not a religious but a spiritual practice and did not make a practitioner lose his religious identity.

Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu also participated in the rehearsal.

“Practicing yoga is not a religious practice. It’s spiritual and secular practice. Doing ‘Surya Namaskar’ does not convert a Muslim into a Hindu,” Ramdev said while leading a rehearsal for the second International Yoga Day on June 21.

The event began after Baba Ramdev paid homage to martyrs at Amar Jawan Jyoti at the India Gate.

Singer Kailash Kher, who promoted the event, sang his famous numbers while Ramdev performed yoga matching the beat, as Naidu called him a ‘true sage’.

“In today’s world of Liberalization, privatisation and globalisation, spirituality, peace and self-control is possible through yoga. Guru ji (Ramdev) is doing a pious work. He is a saint,” Naidu said.

Jaitley also praised Baba Ramdev and said that yoga is India’s gift to the world.

“India is respected for sharing its Vedic knowledge in form of yoga with the world. Baba Ramdev is taking care of people’s health by spreading it across the world,” he said.

Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for getting global respect for yoga, Ramdev said the International Yoga Day had become a festival like the Independence Day or Diwali.

BJP MPs Meenakshi Lekhi, Babul Supriyo and Manoj Tiwari were also present.