India’s (Inter)National Yoga Day

A row of green mats had been arranged right in the middle of Rajpath, New Delhi’s version of the Champs-Élysées, between the iconic India Gate and the equally famous presidential palace, flanked by ministerial buildings. This is the heart of the British-built capital and the venue of the annual parade that accompanies the Republic Day Celebrations. This time, however, the street was to be used not for a military parade or a display of country’s diversity but for an event less awe-inspiring and yet more telling: The International Yoga Day celebrations on June 21, 2018.

The volunteers at Delhi’s Rajpath were dressed in identical T-shirts prepared for the celebration but apart from this uniformity the venue was divided into many sections, some of which were reserved for various religious organizations. With the various colonial era buildings flanking the street, it was as if the government was drawing a contrast between the country’s British heritage and its own spiritual and philosophical traditions.

Introduced by the United Nations in 2015, International Yoga Day has become one of the most successful elements of India’s soft power. It has also become an important aspect of the present Indian government’s ability to promote itself both inside the country and abroad. Moreover, there is a fuzzy line separating the perception of yoga as a set of physical exercises (which is in fact a usually Western, very narrow and detached vision) and the understanding of yoga as an entire philosophical system (in which the physical exercises are primarily a helping tool during meditation), complete with its spiritual moorings. As there are many interpretations of what yoga is and what the Hindu religion is, the government of Narendra Modi can thread a fine path by promoting yoga as a way of life, while avoiding the accusation that it is a propagation of a religious system. The current Indian government has managed to turn yoga into a public celebration.

As usual, the current decision-makers in New Delhi did their PR homework and prepared a promotion campaign which involved, among other things, sending the most popular politicians to various venues to practice publicly with common volunteers. The event was carefully packaged with the use of posters, articles in print media, material on TV and social media, and a set of clever puns. Prime Minister Modi talked of the coming of yogayuga (“the era of yoga”) and posters declared karo yog, raho nirog (“practice yoga and remain healthy”). Modi also claimed that yoga can be a uniting power in a “conflict-ridden world,” that it is “beautiful because it is ancient yet modern” and that it has become “one of the biggest mass movement[s]” for health in the world. This is something I would not agree with – unless what he meant by a “mass movement” is a simultaneous moving of masses of people performing the same asanas.

The celebrations lasted for a few days and consisted of both government-organized large-scale events and a score of smaller, private undertakings that caught on the balloon of Yoga Day’s popularity. In the west, lines of Mumbai policemen and citizens of the megacity practiced yoga by the bay. To the northwest, a Guinness record was broken in Rajasthan, where more than 55,000 people practiced yoga together at a single event. Farther north, members of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police force performed yoga on snow at the altitude of 18,000 feet while Indian and Chinese soldiers practiced asanas together in the disputed area of Ladakh. Far to the east, in the small Christian-majority state of Mizoram, there were no official celebrations as the church considered the event a religious one, but members of the security forces present in the region, the Assam Rifles, did perform yoga publicly. Back in Delhi, where I happened to be during the International Yoga Day, the celebrations became the talk of the town. I could often hear people asking each other whether they took part in some yoga event or another.

There are silent nuances and contradictions within the International Yoga Day celebrations in India. It is public, but is very private. It is a form of show, but it has thousands of common people as the actors. It is mostly practiced silently, but it is propagated by the loudness of the media. Yoga is perhaps best enjoyed either alone or in small groups, but here it was the basis of a mass event. It puts leading politicians on display, not when they give fiery speeches but when they stretch their body on a mat, something that makes them appear more normal and calm.

The present government in India and the United Nations did not make yoga popular. Yoga had been gaining popularity both nationally and internationally for decades. What has changed now, however, is that yoga has become a public performance.