Yoga not religious but spiritual and secular practice: Ramdev

Union minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the event, which was followed by a cultural extravaganza. Singers like Kailash Kher enthralled the audience.

Baba Ramdev said yoga was not religious but a spiritual practice and did not make a practitioner lose his religious identity. “Practicing yoga is not a religious practice. It’s spiritual and secular practice,” he said. “Doing ‘Surya Namaskar’ does not convert a Muslim into a Hindu,” he said. 

Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for getting global respect for yoga, Ramdev said the International Yoga Day had become a festival like Independence Day or Diwali. BJP MPs Meenakshi Lekhi, Babul Supriyo and Manoj Tiwari were also present. Despite traffic diversions in areas near Rajpath, no major snarl was reported in the city.

“It was a Sunday and traffic movement is comparatively very less usually on weekends. Besides, adequate number of traffic policemen were deployed to guide commuters about diversions,” said a senior traffic official.

The programme started at 5 pm and ended at 9 pm on both sides of lawns of Rajpath between Man Singh Road and Rafi Marg.  The Delhi Police have made elaborate arrangements to ensure convenience to the public and smooth flow of traffic. 

Vehicular movement was restricted from 3 pm to 10 pm on roads like Rajpath – between Rafi Marg and Man Singh Road; Janpath – between Moti Lal Nehru Place and Windsor Place; Maulana Azad Road – between Sunehri Masjid and Man Singh Road; Dr Rajender Prasad  Road – between Krishi Bhawan and R/A Jaswant Singh Road (Andhra Bhawan).

Heavy traffic movement could be seen on the connecting roads. Traffic was comparatively heavy on Rafi Marg, Raisina Road, Ashoka Road, Man Singh Road, Akbar Road and Moti Lal Nehru Marg.

Meanwhile, troops of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will lead the International Yoga Day celebrations on June in the national Capital 21 at Central Park in Connaught Place from 5 am to 7.40 am. 

In a traffic advisory, a senior police official said, “Connaught Place’s Inner Circle, Middle Circle and the radial roads on the Outer Circle will be closed for traffic from 3 am to 9 am.”

He added that traffic on the CP’s Outer Circle and roads leading to the Outer Circle (Baba Kharak Singh Marg to R/A GPO; Shaheed Bhagat Singh Marg to Gole Market; Panchkuian Road to RK Ashram Crossing; Chelmsford Road to Munje Chowk; Minto Road to DDU Marg Crossing, Barakhamba Road to Tolstoy Crossing; Kasturba Gandhi Marg to Tolstoy Crossing, Janpath to Tolstoy Crossing and Parliament Street to Patel Chowk) will be partially affected from 7.00 am to 8.30 am due to participants going to of Yoga Day programme (except for vehicles/ buses carrying parking labels). “Traffic on these roads will be restricted as per requirement,” the official said.

However, all major roads, encircling Connaught Place, will remain open for traffic.  Ashoka Road, Bhai Veer Singh Marg, RK Ashram Marg, Panchkuian Road, Rani Jhansi Road, Desh Bandhu Gupta Road, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, Bhav Bhuti Marg, Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg, Ranjit Singh Flyover, Tolstoy Marg and Janpath after Tolstoy Crossing will remain open.

Traffic advisory has been issued for commuters, going to the New Delhi Railway Station. Those coming from Mother Teresa Crescent can take R/A RML-Park Street-Mandir Marg-Panchkuian Road-R/A Jhandewalan-DBG Road-Pahar Ganj Chowk-Ajmeri Gate Chowk-New Delhi Railway Station (Paharganj side).  

Those coming via Mathura Road can take ITO crossing, DDU Marg, Minto Road, New Delhi Railway Station (Ajmeri Gate side), Windsor Place-Janpath/Tolstoy Road-Barakhamba Road/Tolstoy Road- Ranjit Singh Flyover- Guru Nanak Chowk-JLN Marg- New Delhi Railway Station (Ajmeri Gate side).

Yoga Day celebrations will also be organised at Nehru Park, Lodhi Garden, Talkatora Garden, Dwarka, Rohini and Yamuna Sports Complex. Adequate traffic arrangements will also be made at these places.

Ahead of the second International Day of Yoga, a yoga assembly for world peace was organised at the Red Fort grounds on Sunday. The assembly, organised by Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya, was attended by 40,000 ‘raj yogis’ and yoga aspirants.