Previous governments failed to promote yoga, says Gujarat Chief Minister

BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi attended the Yog Mahotsav organised by yoga guru Baba Ramdev at Ramlila Maidan on Sunday.

Touted to be an apolitical event, organised to pay homage to martyrs Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, however failed to remain completely apolitical with the presence of the Gujarat Chief Minister before an ever enthusiastic crowd and the speakers, barring Mr. Modi, talking about “nation building by exercising the right choice in the upcoming general elections”.

Addressing the gathering before offering the mike to Mr. Modi, the yoga guru said: “I hear people say that there is gloom all over. But I feel that India is all set to come out of a bad phase.”

While Mr. Modi refrained from making a political speech, he heaped praise on the yoga guru stating “the issues raised by him [black money, corruption and misgovernance] were his own and these have become a cause of worry for many”.

Asserting that the yoga guru was not affiliated to any party or an individual, Mr. Modi said: “He is pained due to the state of the system. He has a fire within himself as to why bad things are happening in the country, why there is black money, why this corruption, why this bad governance? His issues are such, which are liked by people like me. But there are many people whose sleep vanishes when he rakes up these issues.”

Without naming the Congress or the UPA government, Mr. Modi said the previous governments “failed to promote yoga which has the potential to become an ambassador of the country before the world”.

Mr. Modi also tried to lay down his vision for the country over the next decade by stating that the “country needs to take a pledge on the martyrs' day to transform India into a country that provides employment, housing, power, drinking water and toilets etc. to the poorest of the poor”.

Earlier, the BJP leader and the yoga guru honoured the family members of the Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru and Chandrasekhar Azad.