Why I Won't Do Yoga This Sunday!

By Dr. Shah Alam Khan

PM Narendra Modi performing yoga at Rajpath along with a record gathering of
40,000 people as part of International Yoga Day celebrations

I have been reading the comments of various Muslim scholars and organisations on Yoga with interest. I see that the debate is hovering more on whether doing Surya Namaskar is anti-Islamic or whether Yoga per se is a very "Hindu" ritual, so on and so forth. Unfortunately we have missed the woods for the tree. The very basis of the debate on Yoga is lost in the din of religiosity, and this is a sort of victory for the right wing forces which rule the nation through (proxy of) a democratically elected government.

It is not only unfortunate but dangerous that we loose focus on such agendas ushered on us by the Modi Sarkar. This is not a matter of whether doing Yoga is an Islamic or Hindu tradition. It is also not about Surya Namaskar (many of us do Yoga with or without the Surya Namaskar). The debate should be on the imposition of Yoga (or any other tradition) through an orchestrated state machinery. Note that its the imposition of a cultural act (which is a very healthy act to be honest) which makes the whole plan nefarious and worth a debate. I refuse to participate in this blatant cultural revivalism not because Yoga is a Hindu tradition (if we can dare label it Hindu!) but because I cherish the freedom of cultural identity which the constitution of this land has given to me and to millions of other Indians. Not that Yoga curbs or temporarily halts this cultural identity, but revivalism of the sorts which this government is hell bent on unleashing definitely produces fear and apprehension in the minds of common people like me.

The agenda of "one people, one empire, one leader" is what needs to be debated and rejected.

Professor Shah Alam Khan, Department of Orthopaedics,All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. He is also Associate Editor, Indian Journal of Orthopaedics

http://www.countercurrents.org/khan210615.htm