Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen performing yoga along with several others at an event organised in Lucknow on the occasion of International Yoga Day. Amidst promoting yoga worldwide as an approach to wellness, there were distressed farmers using the same as a form of protest to bring attention to their unaddressed concerns.
Uttar Pradesh
Despite rain, thousands of people led by PM Modi performed yoga at Ramabai Ambedkar ground in Lucknow on the International Yoga Day. In Bareilly, more than 10,000 people performed yoga across 200 venues.
Karnataka
The oldest yoga trainer in the world and a Guinness World Record holder Tao Porchon-Lynch joined stage with India's oldest trainer Amma Nanammal (both 98 years old) were seen doing yoga at Kanteerva stadium. As many as 500 people joined them at the venue. Keiko Aikawa, a yoga instructor hailing from Japan and Union chemicals and fertilisers minister Ananth Kumar were also present at the venue.
Madhya Pradesh
On one hand, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan performed yoga with the people at Lal Parade Ground in Bhopal while on the other hand, Congress party members performed 'shavasana' to mark their protest against the Mandsaur firing incident. This form of 'protest yoga' was observed at their party office.
Maharashtra
Devendra Fadvanis, Maharashtra chief minister, joined 600 kids from farmers' families at National Sports Club of India ground in Worli. His wife Amruta Fadnavis, local BJP MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha, and industrialist Vallabh Bhansali also took part in the session organised by Divyaj Foundation.
Further, Indian Naval Cadets also performed yoga on the deck of INS Virat in Mumbai.
Kerala
The celebrations were a low-key affair with chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan attending a function at the central stadium in the state capital.
"Yoga is nothing to do with religion. One has to perform the ancient exercise with a secular mind. The government will introduce yoga classes in schools," a report quoted him saying.
Jharkhand
Many yoga enthusiasts, Jharkhand ministers, and other officials came together to perform a slew of asanas at Ranchi's Morahbadi ground on Wednesday. The rainfall for about two hours in Ranchi did not dampen the spirit of the participants.
Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das performed various asanas with around 5,000 people at the ground, say reports.
