International Yoga Day: How PM Modi rebranded yoga and presented it to the world

File image

If you to go to a park early in the morning, you’d most likely spot a group of people, young and old alike, stretched out and contorting their bodies into various postures on whatever patch of grass is left uncovered by colourful mats.

The sight is a reflection of yoga’s growing significance, something that the Prime Minister can take credit for. During his first address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2014, Narendra Modi mooted the proposal to declare June 21 as International Yoga day, right after the BJP-led NDA’s landslide victory in the 2014 general elections.

China was one of the first countries that co-sponsored his proposition, a news that had a ripple effect on other developing countries.  However, making sure that the idea of a holistic proposal was not lost along the way meant getting developed nations to join the gang. Foremost among the new entrants was the US, with Russia, Germany, France and the UK not too far behind.

The global yoga industry stands at an estimated $80 billion as of 2018, according to media reports. The value of the Indian wellness industry has also crossed Rs 85,000 crore. As per a report by Statista, the yoga industry is expected to become an $11.5 billion industry in the US by 2020.

The scope to make money out of it made yoga all the more appealing to countries like Mozambique, which became one of the early African sponsors of the proposal. It has a long Indian Ocean coastline dotted with yoga tourism retreats. Countries with a sizeable Indian diaspora and those where yoga schools already existed under well-known gurus also nodded in favour of Modi’s push for the plan.

The move worked well, projecting India’s ‘soft power’ under the newly elected leader. It was finally backed by as many as 177 nations and adopted merely 75 days after Modi tabled the resolution in the UNGA. When it comes to the passage of any international day resolution, both these figures are now records.

Although many have termed the entire act a public relations exercise, one cannot disregard the PM’s skill of turning yoga into a unique ‘brand’ for India in a way that was similar to his push for Khadi.

The move has reaffirmed India’s position on the global map while at the same time reaping profits for the country vis-à-vis the ever-growing number of tourists who visit India to undertake yoga lessons.

PM Modi gave the global media a nice photograph for their next day’s edition as he rolled out his yoga mat, slipped into the lotus position and became a part of the 37,000 strong crowd at Rajpath on the first International Yoga Day in 2015. He even performed the various ‘asanas’, or poses throughout the 30-minute-long session. He has been a part of the yearly celebrations ever since, with his enthusiasm visible in his immediate appointment of a Yoga Minister under the Ministry for AYUSH.

Modi skillfully weaved the narrative of yoga as an intrinsic part of the ancient Indian tradition. He repackaged the age-old practice, which has taken a modern form over the years, and cemented it as India’s contribution to the world after Aryabhatta’s ‘zero’.