With a grand celebration of the International Yoga Day being held at Rajpath, the Congress on Sunday urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre to organise a befitting commemoration of the International Day of Non-Violence on October 2.
"On June 15, 2007, the United Nations, in a specially convened session of the UN General Assembly, had declared October 2 as the international day of non-violence. I hope that the Prime Minister would respect that, remember that and on October 2 he and his government will organise a befitting commemoration of the international day of non-violence in India and all over the world," Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma told the media.
Sharma further hoped that commemoration of the International Yoga Day continues throughout the year so that it does not end up being a mere annual event.
"Indians have propagated, popularised yoga not only in our own country, but the beneficial effects of yoga have been taken beyond the shores of this country by great gurus and yogis.... we hope that what has happened today is a commemoration of the International Yoga Day, and that this is continued through the year and the government does not make it just an annual event on June 21," he said.
Prime Minister Modi had earlier dubbed the International Yoga Day as the beginning of a new era of peace and goodwill, thanking all those who have contributed to the development of the great discipline.
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Dressed in all-white and donning a tricolour scarf, Prime Minister Modi performed a variety of asanas, including the Vajrasan and Padmasan, at Rajpath where an estimated 40,000 people participated in the celebrations. Nearly 2,000 digital cinema screens were set up across Rajpath for the people to witness the live streaming of the performance of yoga asanas.
Similar yoga events took place simultaneously across India, with Chief Ministers like Vasundhara Raje, Chandrababu Naidu, Devendra Fadnavis and Raghubar Das joining in.
The yoga celebrations are being organised after the United Nations had in December last year declared June 21 as International Yoga Day.
The idea of celebrating the International Yoga Day was pitched by Prime Minister Modi at the United Nations General Assembly last year.
