"Yoga is a vital part of our soft power across the world," Shashi Tharoor said. (File)
On the ninth International Yoga Day, Congress today thanked former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for "popularising yoga", to which senior party leader Shashi Tharoor replied in the affirmative but gave credit to the BJP-led Centre too.
The Congress tweeted a picture of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru performing Yoga and said, "On International Day of Yoga, we thank Pt. Nehru, who was instrumental in popularising Yoga & even made it a part of national policy."
Shashi Tharoor reacted to the tweet and said, "Indeed! We should also acknowledge all those who revived & popularised Yoga, including the government."
"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," Mr Tharoor added.
Earlier, Shashi Tharoor cautioned the Congress to not get complacent after winning the assembly elections in Karnataka and said that the party should not assume that "If it worked in one state, it can work nationally", referring to the general elections next year.
Mr Tharoor said that Congress won in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh months before the 2019 general elections but performed poorly in the Lok Sabha elections
This year's theme for International Yoga Day is 'Yoga for Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam'.
President Droupadi Murmu performed Yoga at Rashtrapati Bhavan today. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh participated in a yoga day event onboard INS Vikrant.
Prime Minister Modi, who is on a three-day state visit to the US, will perform Yoga at the lawns of UN Headquarters. The unique yoga session led by Prime Minister Modi in New York will see participation from top UN officials and envoys from across the world.
In a video message on Yoga Day, Prime Minister Modi said that Indians have always welcomed new ideas and celebrated the country's rich diversity.
"The coming together of more than 180 countries on India's call is historic and unprecedented," the Prime Minister said.