BHUBANESWAR: CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of promoting Hindutva agenda under the garb of yoga.
“The mass mobilisation of people to observe International Yoga Day by the NDA Government is an attempt to promote Hindutva agenda at the cost of India’s secular democratic fabric,” Yechury said at a function here organised to commemorate the birth centenary of veteran Communist leader Harkishan Singh Surjeet.
The Centre’s mega marketing exercise to promote yoga smacks of a dubious effort to saffronise the rich cultural diversity of the country. Such exercises were adopted only by dictators in other countries in the past. This is an attempt by the Modi Government to divert attention of the people from basic issues confronting the nation, Yechury said.
All forms of public gathering have been banned in Delhi’s Rajpath since the demolition of Babri Masjid, but on Sunday it was violated by holding the mega yoga session, the CPM leader said.
Giving example of a dog, he said when the animal gets up, it stretches its front as well as rear legs and also takes deep breath. “All yoga exercises can be noticed in dog’s body movement,” said Yechury.
While Yoga is needed to improve the quality of life, it is important to deal with hunger and starvation first. However, the country has the dubious distinction of about 194.6 million hungry people even one year after NDA came to power, he remarked.
Under such circumstances, the primary responsibility of the Government is to save life and then think of bringing improvement in its quality.
