In the backdrop of push for one nation, one election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah led the main International Yoga Day events in Jharkhand and Haryana. These two states have BJP governments and will be going to the polls later this year.
Another state slated for assembly election this year is Maharashtra, where Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was accompanied by yoga guru Baba Ramdev, a strong votary of the BJP-Modi rule. In a way, the fifth International Yoga Day events were the beginning of the poll campaign in the three important BJP-ruled states.
PM Modi led a crowd of 40,000 people in the Prabhat Tara ground located between two schools -- Prabhat Tara and St Thomas run by Christian institutions. Speaking on the occasion, PM Modi said, Yoga is above religion, caste, colour, gender and region; it is above everything."
PM Modi’s comrade-in-arms Amit Shah was in Rohtak, Haryana. The choice of the venue for Amit Shah is significant as Rohtak is the home turf of Congress leader and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. He was born here and remains the tallest Congress leader in Haryana.
Amit Shah took the occasion to promote Brand Modi that sells the most in elections. He said, Modiji has helped take yoga to the world. It has also helped promote our culture. Yoga today has become ambassador of our culture to the world.