NEW DELHI, INDIA, June 8, 2016 (Deccan Chronicle): Suryanamaskar asana will not be part of this year’s Yoga Day celebrations and chanting of Om won’t be compulsory even though yoga is incomplete without it, Ayush Minister Shripad Naik said on Wednesday about the June 21 event which is expected to entail a collective cost of hundreds of crores of rupees.
“The Suryanamaskar asana… last year also we had not taken it. It is a complex exercise. It is difficult to do in 45 minutes and for people who are new to the exercise. Therefore we have not kept this one,” Naik, whose ministry is the nodal agency for organising the annual celebrations, told the media.
Naik also dismissed the controversy related to the chanting of Om during the event and it has not been made compulsory. “There is always some opposition whenever some good work is done. There is no opposition this year to it. We have not made it compulsory…. We have made those people who are opposing understand this and it seems they have understood,” he said but added “without OM, yoga cannot be complete.” Chanting of Om has also been a matter of controversy, with Muslim bodies saying members of their faith cannot do so.