New Delhi: Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday said that International Yoga Day should not be linked with religion.
He was reacting to news of senior clerics and Muslim community leaders opposing a Maharashtra Government order that asked schools to observe the day.
"Everyone should celebrate International Yoga Day as a health event. We don't think politicising health is good. Yoga is not bound by restrictions of religion, caste, area. Health is wealth and Yoga is the key to that. It should not be linked with religion. Whoever wants to take it they can and people who don't want to don't have to," Naqvi said.
According to reports, Maharashtra Education Minister Vinod Tawade had urged schools to have students in attendance on June 21, a Sunday.
Slamming the order to keep schools open on June 21, Jamiatul Ulema-e-Hind (Maharashtra) president Maulana Mustaqeem Azmi had termed the move 'dictatorial' and 'impinging' on the rights of citizens.
