Students perform during a rehearsal on the eve of the International Yoga Day in Ahmedabad yesterday.

IANS/New Delhi


India’s ancient discipline of yoga will be a uniting force across the world today, cutting across religion, borders and differences, as over 200mn people will participate in events to mark the inaugural International Yoga Day, with a record 37,000 people striking up yoga poses in the national capital alone.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an ardent proponent of yoga, will himself be present at the mega early morning function at Rajpath.
While the main function will be at Rajpath, which has been placed under unprecedented security, the International Yoga Day events will be held across cities, towns and districts in the country.
Yoga day events are being held in 192 countries, including in the Arab world.
Indian missions abroad are all geared up the mark the occasion with some public events.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will participate in the headline inaugural event at the UN that will be addressed by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and attended by well-known spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
In New Delhi, 37,000 pink, blue and other coloured mats will make for a pretty backdrop on Rajpath as participants bend and stretch for the 35-minute event.
India will seek to break a few records on the day, besides of the largest yoga gathering at a single spot with 37,000 people performing different yogic asanas or positions.
More than 50 diplomats are expected to join the event at Rajpath today - another record.
Yoga guru Ramdev will be present on the stage with Modi who will give a short address, after which some yoga asanas will be performed.
More than 25 giant screens will beam the programme live across Rajpath and also to millions of homes in India and across the world.
Around 5,000 Delhi police personnel along with commandos, sharp shooters and dog squads would be deployed at Rajpath and within a 2m radius to provide tight security.
Around 13 deputy commissioners of police will monitor the security arrangements.
The security personnel will take over the entire area from 3am to 10am today, during which no movement of vehicles will be allowed.
Participants, including government officials, members of the National Cadet Corps, school children and members of the armed forces, would be attired in white T-shirts provided by the AYUSH ministry and with comfortable lowers.
They would do asanas during the event that will begin at 7am.
Delhi Metro services will begin from 4am instead of 6am today for those who would participate.
The asanas would be according to the Common Yoga Protocol, which has been put together by the AYUSH ministry, which is organising the celebration along with the external affairs ministry.
Thirty-five asanas would be performed.
At the events held across the world, yoga gurus from established yoga schools would be presiding over the function, including via web linkup.
“We are expecting more than 20 crore people just within Indian cities, towns and villages to be doing yoga,” AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik said.
The UN General Assembly declared June 21 as the International Day of Yoga following a proposal by the prime minister during his speech at the world body on September 27 last year.
The resolution for the Yoga Day was co-sponsored by 175 of the 193 member nations in a short period of 75 days.
Forty-seven of the 56 members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation countries too joined as co-sponsors, in a telling example of the universality of yoga. While Pakistan did not co-sponsor, it did not object to the resolution either.

Case filed against Modi, Shah, RSS chief

A case was filed yesterday against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat in a Patna court for giving a “religious colour” to yoga, thereby hurting people’s sentiments. “We filed the case in the chief judicial magistrate’s court in Patna for defaming yoga by giving it a religious colour that has hurt the sentiments of people,” said Shruti Singh, the lawyer representing social activist Dev Kumar Singh. The case was filed on charges of committing deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings, and criminal conspiracy, the lawyer said.