Hours earlier than Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends the Yoga Day celebrations at UN headquarters immediately, the Congress shared the photograph of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru doing sirsasana (headstand) and remembered him for being instrumental in ‘popularising Yoga and even made it part of nationwide coverage’. “Let us appreciate the importance of the ancient art and philosophy in our physical and mental wellbeing and take steps to incorporate in our lives,” the Congress tweeted.

In his speech on the 69th session of the UN General Assembly on September 27, 2014, PM Modi put ahead the idea of Yoga Day, which was first noticed on June 21, 2015 after which grew to become a worldwide celebration. Read | Yoga Day event in Surat set new Guinness World Record: Minister Harsh Sanghavi

As Congress credited Nehru for yoga, BJP nationwide spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla dug out Rahul Gandhi’s 2019 tweet during which he in contrast Indian Army troopers with Army canine — each doing yoga in a photograph he shared. “New India,” he captioned the photograph. Referring to that objectionable tweet, Shehzad wrote, “From mocking yoga (tweet by Rahul Gandhi) to now the Congress trying to steal credit for the first family. It seems the Congress party has come a full circle.”

“At the very least they could thank India & Indians whose efforts led to its recognition on a global platform since 2015 with an overwhelming mandate. Today when India represented by PM Modi will lead Yoga Day celebrations at UN HQ it is a matter of collective national pride but Congress is suffering from cataract of parivarvaad & hence can’t see anybody beyond one family

By the way have u ever seen any congress leader doing Yoga on this day if indeed Nehru popularised it?” Poonawalla wrote.

Shashi Tharoor thanks PMO, MEA on Yoga Day

Congress chief Shashi Tharoor shared Nehru’s headstand photograph and stated the federal government, the PMO and the MEA must also be credited for popularising yoga. “Indeed! We should also acknowledge all those who revived & popularised yoga, including our government,

@PMOIndia & @MEAIndia, for internationalising #InternationalYogaDay through the @UN. As I have argued for decades, yoga is a vital part of our soft power across the world & it’s great to see it recognized,” Tharoor wrote.