Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing an event marking the seventh International Yoga Day on Monday morning, called Yoga a “ray of hope” amid the covid-19 pandemic. “Yoga became a source of inner strength among people amid the Covid pandemic and inculcated faith in them that they could fight the virus,” PM Modi said.
The prime minister also launched a mYoga app that will be available worldwide. “In collaboration with WHO, India has taken another important step. We will be launching the mYoga app which will have yoga training videos in different languages for people across the world. This will help us achieve our ‘One World, One Health’ motto,” he added.
Stating that Yoga helps in the “healing process,” PM Modi added, “When I talk to frontline warriors and doctors, they tell me that they’ve made Yoga a shield for protection against the virus. They’ve used Yoga not just for safeguarding themselves, but also patients. Today even medical science lays emphasis on the healing process, besides medical treatment. Yoga helps in healing process.”
In view of the pandemic, celebrations will be held virtually this year.
The prime minister noted that there may not have been any major public events in countries around the world and in India for around a year and a half, but the enthusiasm for Yoga Day has not diminished.
For most of the countries of the world, Yoga Day is not their age-old cultural festival and in this difficult time, people could have forgotten about it and ignored it, but on the contrary, people’s enthusiasm for yoga has increased, he said. “When the unseen coronavirus knocked on the doors of the world, no country was prepared for it in terms of resources, capability and mental state. We all have seen that in such difficult times, yoga has become a great source of inner strength,” he said.
The prime minister expressed confidence that yoga will continue playing its preventive, as well as promotive role in healthcare of masses.
This year, the theme is ‘Yoga For Wellness’. Elaborating on it, PM Modi wrote on Twitter: “The theme this year is ‘Yoga For Wellness’, which focuses on practising Yoga for physical and mental wellbeing.”
The idea of International Yoga Day was conceived by PM Modi, who proposed the concept on September 27, 2014, during his speech at the UN General Assembly. The resolution to adopt June 21 as International Yoga Day was introduced in the UN by India’s Ambassador, Ashoke Kumar Mukerji. The resolution had received support from 177 nations, the highest number of co-sponsors for any UN Resolution. Currently, countries ranging from Canada to the USA participate in this event.