Yogi Adityanath advocated Yoga for all and said Surya Namaskar had similarities to the Namaz.
Surya Namaskar positions are very similar to Namaz, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said today, making a case about delinking Yoga from religion.
"All
asanas (postures) in Surya Namaskar, the
mudras, the
pranayama kriyas...if you see, then they are similar to the way our Muslim friends do the Namaz," the saffron-robed Chief Minister said at a Yoga event in Lucknow.
No one, he added, tried to combine the two as people in power were used to "
bhog (benefits)", not Yoga. "How can those who have tried to divide the country on the basis of caste and religion believe in Yoga?" he commented.
Yoga teacher Baba Ramdev by his side, the 47-year-old credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi with promoting Yoga and making it universal. "Earlier, before 2014, if anyone talked about a Yoga day, it would be considered communal," he said.