International Yoga Day 2020: How PM Narendra Modi convinced 177 nations to celebrate June 21 as Yoga Day

File image: Prime Minister Narendra Modi performs yoga

Since 2015, June 21 has been celebrated globally as the International Day of Yoga. However, the forthcoming International Yoga Day will be celebrated quite differently than the previous years. Keeping the COVID-19 pandemic in mind, people have been asked to celebrate Yoga Day indoors and the theme for the sixth edition of International Yoga Day is, ‘Yoga at Home and Yoga with Family’.

But how and when did we start celebrating it on June 21? And why is Prime Minister Narendra Modi being credited for the growing significance of yoga in India?

In September 2014, during his address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Narendra Modi had proposed that June 21 be declared as International Yoga Day. While neighbouring China was the first country to co-sponsor Modi's proposition, others, including the United States, Russia, Germany, France and the UK, were not too far behind.

The scope of making money out of it made yoga 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. Moreover, 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 and was eventually backed by as many as 177 nations and adopted merely 75 days after Modi tabled the resolution in the UNGA. Interestingly, 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.

Prime Minister Narendra 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’.