{"id":6739,"date":"2016-05-17T20:50:11","date_gmt":"2016-05-17T20:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalpress.hinduismnow.org?p=6736&preview_id=6736"},"modified":"2016-05-17T20:50:11","modified_gmt":"2016-05-17T20:50:11","slug":"chant-om-on-yoga-day-row-erupts-over-ugc-directive-to-varsities-india-hindustan-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/?p=6739","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Chant Om on Yoga Day\u2019: Row erupts over UGC directive to varsities"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A fresh controversy broke out on Tuesday over the UGC\u2019s directive asking universities and colleges to follow Ayush ministry\u2019s yoga protocol that begins with chanting of \u2018Om\u2019 and some Sanskrit sholakas during Yoga Day celebrations on June 21.<\/p>\n

While Congress criticised the BJP-led government for being \u201cinsensitive\u201d, saying yoga, a great discipline of ancient India, does not belong to the saffron party, JD(U) termed it as yet another attempt to \u201cimpose the communal agenda\u201d on Indian masses.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoga is a great knowledge of ancient India. It is not something that belongs to BJP. It should be made more acceptable system for the people to practice…Probably this government is unconcerned about these sensitive aspects,\u201d Congress spokesperson PC Chako said.<\/p>\n

Senior JD(U) leader K C Tyagi flayed the government, saying \u201cThis is again (an attempt) to impose the communal agenda on Indian masses. We are opposed to that. How can you say to a Muslim, Sikh, Christian to say \u2018Om\u2019. For me, I am a Hindu and I have no problem, but how can you ask people of other religion (to do it). This is again communalism… the divisive agenda of RSS. We condemn it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his letter to universities last week, UGC secretary Jaspal S Sandhu had sought the \u201cpersonal indulgence\u201d of Vice Chancellors in celebrating yoga day in their varsities as well as affiliated bodies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI request you to draw action plan for International Day of Yoga and also ensure wide participation of students and teachers of your esteemed University in the yoga day celebrations,\u201d the senior UGC official said in his letter along with the Ayush ministry\u2019s 45-minute protocol for practising yoga.<\/p>\n

The protocol starts with a two-minute prayer preceded by chants of \u2018Om\u2019 and some Sanskrit Shlokas and followed by 18 minutes of yoga postures and pranayam.<\/p>\n

As per the protocol, participants would sit in a meditative pose for 9 minutes and there would be \u2018Shanti Paath\u2019 towards the end.<\/p>\n

However, the government and BJP insisted last year\u2019s protocol has been maintained and no changes have been made.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no compulsion to chant \u2018Om\u2019,\u201d a senior Ayush Ministry official said.<\/p>\n

BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said, \u201cThere is no compulsion. Some people are linking yoga to religion while it is essentially meant for holistic well being. It should be a matter of pride that the UN celebrates Yoga Day and about 196 countries follow it. The dirty tricks department of the Congress is behind the controversy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source: \u2018Chant Om on Yoga Day\u2019: Row erupts over UGC directive to varsities | india | Hindustan Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A fresh controversy broke out on Tuesday over the UGC\u2019s directive asking universities and colleges to follow Ayush ministry\u2019s yoga protocol that begins with chanting of \u2018Om\u2019 and some Sanskrit sholakas during Yoga Day celebrations on June 21. While Congress criticised the BJP-led government for being \u201cinsensitive\u201d, saying yoga, a great discipline of ancient India, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[1135],"tags":[1503,1540,1163,1506],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6739"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}