MYSURU: Does the selection of Dehradun over Mysuru by the Prime Minister’s office (PMO) for International Yoga Day celebrations have any link with the assembly poll verdict? Answer is yes if one goes by the chain of events.
Mysuru which has set two Guinness World Records in yoga had high expectations on Prime Minister Narendra Modi preferring the city for International Yoga Day (June 21) event.
The city had created two records, one in the longest chain yoga performance and another largest yoga lesson with 55,506 participants, drawing the attention of the Prime Minister’s office and the country.
The event organisers and the district administration had appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to consider Mysuru for this year’s International Yoga Day event. Many yoga organisations and teachers were thrilled when a team of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) Department and representatives of the PMO visited Mysuru in April. They visited Mysore Palace and Race Course in search of venue for the yoga day event.
The authorities had listed four cities, including Mysuru, Jaipur, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad for the International Yoga Day event where PM Modi will perform asanas with others, but now, they have decided to organise the event in Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand. Modi will perform yoga with 60,000 people in Dehradun on June 21.
A senior yoga teacher on the condition of anonymity said election results and change in political equation might be the reason for the PMO snubbing Mysuru. He said they were confident of organising the event in Mysuru, following the assurance of AYUSH officials and had a plan to mobilize one lakh people to create one more record. Srihari of Yoga Federation said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s participation in Mysuru would have boosted tourism.
“We don’t know whether Mysuru was dumped for political reasons or due to security aspects. All I wish was that Modiji should have preferred Mysuru that has a long history in promoting yoga,” he added.
10,000 attend rehearsal
Mysuru city, which has thousands of yoga trainers, has started organising training programmes in schools, colleges and other institutions with a hope to bring atleast 70,000 people to Race Course to perform asanas on International Yoga Day. Delighted over the participation of 10,000 people in the rehearsal held at Race Course, the organisers have decided to record the event.