Why PM Modi picked Dehradun as the venue for the fourth edition of yoga day
The PM will deliver a speech and perform yoga, along with an estimated 50,000 participants
The choice of Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand, as the venue of the fourth edition of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s yoga day celebrations on Thursday, has been picked with much thought for its religious and spiritual symbolism, but also has electoral significance for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with it being the last yoga day celebrations before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
On Thursday morning, the PM will deliver a speech and perform yoga, along with an estimated 50,000 participants, at the sprawling and salubrious campus of the 112-year-old Forest Research Institute here. The first international day of yoga, after it was recognized by the UN in end-2014, was held in New Delhi in 2015.
Chandigarh and Lucknow hosted the subsequent two editions in 2016 and 2017, respectively. But Uttarakhand, considered 'dev bhumi', or 'the land of the gods', as the venue has unique religious significance for Hindus. It is home to Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Gangotri pilgrimage centres.
“Dehradun, along with Haridwar and Rishikesh, is the yoga capital of the world. Uttarakhand is where yoga took birth and there couldn’t have been a better place for the PM to speak of his message of the importance of yoga to the world,” Rajesh Kotecha, secretary in the AYUSH ministry, said.
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