Yoga Day: A spectacle & its sheen

Tribune News Service

GOVERNMENTS love to make spectacles of special events. People are usually made to amuse themselves. The split between the two gives rise to verbal calisthenics — International Yoga Day (June 21) is no exception. Two years after yoga came to occupy the global mindscape; there has been posturing, so uncharacteristic of the noble art of managing one’s body and mind. Which is why there are laboured efforts at making the ‘Diwas’ a success in Haryana, an over-the-top celebration drill in Chandigarh and a complete cipher in Punjab. 

In Himachal, yoga is more demonstrative of fondness for natural beauty, less of the inner and more of the outer. Elsewhere in the country agitating farmer unions citing agrarian crisis plan to mark the day by performing shavasana, or the corpse pose, across the country. Look at how the authorities are hard-pressed for the event — for the people and by the people: 

Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made Chandigarh the epicenter of celebration. Officials were scurrying for everything that could have been brought along for ‘Make in India’— the PM’s pet theme. In 2015, the green mats meant for exercises were found China-sourced. So, the AYUSH Ministry stepped in with everything Indian. This year, the UT administration has kept the venue at Sector 17 Plaza, but appears to have scaled down participation — from 30,000 last year to a mere 3,000 this Wednesday. 

Last year, the PM did not hide his glee by seeing the huge turnout. He looked at Parkash Singh Badal, then CM, to remark: “I asked Badal sahib if he had seen such good use of this Capitol Complex before.” This time Modi may not find his friend in the small crowd. “The PM’s speech will be telecast live on LED screens from Lucknow,” said a source. 

The administration has also sounded out yoga practitioners in around 50 green belts, parks, schools and colleges, where residents will perform yoga. Various NGOs have been roped in for imparting the residents a 45-minute yoga protocol chalked out by the AYUSH Ministry. Master trainers, at least 50, will be deployed at all venues. 

In Haryana, there appears a sudden quiet, though all districts and sub-divisions have been told to gear up for the Yoga Diwas. State health minister Anil Vij, who also also holds the AYUSH charge, says the government has assigned duties to all its ministers and MLAs. “Each district has been given Rs 5 lakh to celebrate the occasion.” 

The minister says yoga trainers, particularly from Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Yog Peeth (PYP), are helping the participants. 

In Karnal, chief minister Manohal Lal Khattar’s constituency, block-level officials are getting their postures right with the help from PYP volunteers. As many as 227 yoga classes are being organized in various parts of Karnal. “People have become health conscious and are joining yoga classes,” says Kehar Singh Chopra, yoga instructor and media in-charge of PYP unit.

But things are a little different in Shimla. “For me yoga is not just a part of an annual ritual, it is a daily life routine,” says Vibha Sharma, a school teacher. This year Art of Living foundation in association with the state agencies are organizing a massive yoga session at Nadaun in Hamirpur where over one lakh people are expected to participate.