Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, on a three-day go to to the USA, kicked off a gaggle yoga session for worldwide diplomats on the garden of the United Nations in Manhattan on Wednesday morning, stressing the nondenominational facet of the apply that has roots in Hindu spirituality.
“I’m instructed that just about each nationality is represented right here in the present day, and what a tremendous trigger to convey us all collectively — yoga,” Mr. Modi stated. “Yoga means to unite.”
After his remarks, the prime minister joined the gang for stretching workout routines. He intends to journey to Washington in a while Wednesday for a state dinner with President Biden the subsequent day.
Mr. Modi’s deal with inclusivity on the United Nations stood in distinction to his political posture at dwelling: Mr. Modi’s Hindu nationalist insurance policies over his greater than eight years in workplace, critics say, have undercut India’s non secular minorities and his authorities has cracked down on dissent. India has a inhabitants of 1.4 billion individuals, together with about 200 million Muslims.
Over the previous a number of years, Mr. Modi’s authorities has set off protests for insurance policies that seem to privilege non-Muslims, together with, for instance, a fast-track to citizenship for non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh and another Muslim-majority international locations.
On Wednesday, earlier than the yoga session, Mr. Modi bowed to a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, in response to studies, a frontrunner whose credos of spiritual tolerance and secularism had been foundational to the nation Mr. Modi now runs.
The occasion, additionally attended by Mayor Eric Adams of New York, was in celebration of Worldwide Yoga Day, June 21, an occasion Mr. Modi efficiently lobbied the U.N. to commemorate practically a decade in the past. The prime minister has used yoga to attempt to endear himself to each the worldwide neighborhood and the Hindu voters with whom he stays extensively widespread, tweeting movies of his downward canine and warrior poses. The Indian army has additionally broadcast its troopers practising yoga.
“Yoga comes from India, and it’s a very previous custom, however like all historic Indian traditions, it is usually dwelling and dynamic,” the prime minister stated to the gang seated cross-legged on yellow yoga mats earlier than a backdrop of the East River.
“Yoga is unifying. It’s for everybody: for all ethnicities, for all faiths and for all cultures,” Mr. Modi stated. “Yoga is really common.”