Even as a host of Muslim organisations across India have objected to the Narendra Modi government's ambitious World Yoga Day plans later this month, Darul Uloom Deoband - the largest Islamic seminary in Asia - has said it has no problem with yoga in public programmes, schools and colleges.



"We consider yoga as a form to physical exercise and accepted it. While offering namaz, we do several physical movements which also fall in the category of yoga. It has nothing to do with religion and so we don't object to it at any level," PRO of Darul Uloom Ashraf Usmani told Mail Today on Thursday.



Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Gorakhpur, Yogi Adityanath, for alleging that the Muslim institutions were against yoga, Usmani said, "Some people have ulterior motive to spread misinformation to malign our image. They have been claiming that we have issued a fatwa against yoga, which is wrong. We never want to reject yoga as a form of exercise." Also read: Mera Yoga saath hoga, says PM



Adityanath had said two days ago that those who have been issuing diktats against yoga and opposing it should either drown in the ocean or leave India.



Reacting over the BJP MP's statement, Darul Uloom Vice-Chancellor Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani said, "There are some people who believe that they are good for Indian democracy by attacking Islamic institutions and its beliefs. They need to know that India is a secular nation where the people of different religion live with peace and harmony. The way they are trying to run the country is inflicting irreparable harm to India. They want to paint the entire nation with the same religious brush."



"I don't want to name any particular person for doing hate campaign against a section of the countrymen. But it is high time for the government of India to pin point such forces and take action against them," said Nomani.



On Monday, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board launched a nationwide campaign against the government's move to make yoga and the controversial Surya Namaskar compulsory in schools across the country.



PM Modi will lead a huge event at New Delhi's Rajpath on June 21 which is expected to be attended by over 40,000 people from across the country. In December last year, in a major diplomatic victory for India, the United Nations adopted June 21 as the International Yoga Day with over 175 nations supporting Modi's proposal.