Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Surat for creating a Guinness world record for the largest gathering of people for a yoga session on Wednesday. As the world celebrated the 9th International Day of Yoga, thousands gathered around the country for a Yoga programme in their area. However, Surat took one step further as more than one lakh people gathered in one place to perform yoga creating the largest gathering at one time. Minister of State, Harsh Sanghavi shared a video of the gathering and called it a testament of PM Modi's clarion call for ‘Yoga For All’
In the video Sanghavi shared on Twitter, a road was covered with people doing yoga on Wednesday. Responding to the achievement PM Modi shared the video and wrote, “Congratulations Surat! A remarkable feat.”
Every year International Yoga Day is celebrated on June 21 worldwide. It serves as a platform to raise awareness about the numerous benefits of Yoga and promote its holistic approach to physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.
The concept of International Yoga Day was introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his 2014 address to the United Nations General Assembly. Since then, Yoga has gained huge popularity worldwide due to its ability to enhance flexibility, strength, balance, and overall fitness.
This year, the theme of Yoga Day was 'Yoga For Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,' i.e., Yoga for the welfare of all in the form of 'One World-One Family. It emphasised the spirit of Yoga, which unites everyone and takes them in stride.
PM Modi, on the occasion, led a special Yoga session at the United Nations headquarters in New York City on Wednesday, to mark the day. He also addressed the International Yoga Day celebrations through a video message.
He said in his video address that the propagation of Yoga is an extension of the idea that the whole world is included as one family. Highlighting the theme of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’ for the G20 Summit being chaired by India this year, Modi underlined that the propagation of Yoga is the propagation of the spirit of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’.
He emphasised that India's culture and social structure, its spirituality and ideals, and its philosophy and vision have always nurtured traditions that unite, adopt and embrace.
People from more than 180 countries were seen performing asanas on their Yoga mats. Apart from PM Modi, India's permanent envoy to the UN, Ruchira Kamboj, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and the 77th United Nations General President Csaba Korosi were among the dignitaries attending the event.