PM Modi leads yoga session in rain, thousands join him
Incessant rainfall failed to dampen the spirits of thousands who assembled at the sprawling Ramabai Ambedkar ground to perform an array of asanas with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in observance of the third International Yoga Day (IYD) on Wednesday morning.
The PM, who arrived at the venue around 6.40 am with Uttar Pradesh governor Ram Naik and chief minister Yogi Adityanath, did not let them down. Even as an enthusiastic crowd chanted ‘Modi Modi’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, he shrugged off his security cordon to join the students assembled in the main arena.
Modi, in his address, praised the people for braving rainfall since 4 am for the yogic cause. “I thank Lucknowites for patiently waiting in this rain to perform yoga,” he said. “Today, they have sent a message across the world that yoga can be performed even in a downpour.”
The PM said yoga has cut across linguistic and cultural barriers to unite various regions of the world – just like it links the mind, body and soul. Urging people to make yoga as integral a part of their lives as common salt, he said: “Earlier, yoga was performed only by saints. Today, it is found in every household.”
Yoga has also played a big role in bridging India with the world, he claimed. “Several countries have acknowledged the discipline. It has connected the entire world, with several countries performing yoga on this day. And even here, the demand for yoga teachers has increased manifold in the last three years. Yoga has become part of the education curriculum in several states across the country.”
Modi said the increasing popularity of yoga spurred Unesco to add yoga to its list of intangible cultural heritage, along with Cuba’s rumba and Peru’s scissor dance, in December last year.
“It is not necessary to perform yoga 24 hours a day. Fifty or sixty minutes should be enough to bring harmony to the body, mind and intellect. If 1.25 billion Indians and people across the world attain this state of well-being, humankind will be able to tide over problems borne out of human thoughts,” he said.
CONTINUED ON P 5 MORE REPORTS ON P7
A Supreme Court bench refused on Wednesday to give bail or suspend the jail term handed to former high court justice CS Karnan, who now will need to be in prison till at least July 3 when the Constitution bench that convicted him returns from vacation.
Karnan was captured in Coimbatore on Tuesday after being on the run since May 9 when the Supreme Court handed an unprecedented six-month jail sentence to him for contempt of court.
“We cannot override the earlier order of the seven judge bench, neither do we intend to,” said a Supreme Court vacation bench of justices YV Chandrachud and SK Kaul while rejecting Karnan’s bail plea.
The bench asked Karnan’s advocate, M Nedumpara, to approach the Constitution bench, which will sit only after the summer vacation period ends on July 3. “You have to mention the matter before the Chief Justice of India”.
The court also dismissed Karnan’s plea to suspend the jail term till the bail matter was not heard by a bench of 7 judges.
CONTINUED ON P 5 RELATED REPORT ON P4