The whole world on June 21, Monday celebrated the 7th International Yoga Day. During this harrowing situation which has spread far wide over the world many people have found that doing yoga helps them relax and helps them excel in their daily activities. The idea of International Yoga Day was conceived by PM Modi, who proposed the concept on September 27, 2014, during his speech at the UN General Assembly. The resolution to adopt June 21 as International Yoga Day was introduced in the UN by India’s Ambassador, Ashoke Kumar Mukherji. The resolution had received support from 177 nations, the highest number of co-sponsors for any UN Resolution and ever since, we are celebrating health and fitness.
People worldwide participated in the expedition to healthy life and mind on June 21, 2021 and several such intercontinental images and videos were all over the social media and news. Following this, two images went viral on social media claiming to show people from Saudi Arabia practising yoga. The images were shared with a claim in Hindi, which states that yoga does not belong to any community.
It was found that one of the images was from Ahmedabad, where school children were participating in yoga whereas the other was from Abu Dhabi, where Bohra Muslims from India were performing yoga at a community centre.
Using reverse image search, it was found that a news report by Gulf News carried the first image. According to the report, 500 members from the Bohra Muslim community organised a yoga event at their community cultural center in Abu Dhabi. A caption with the picture published in the Gulf News article read ‘Bohra community members performing Yoga at Bohra Islamic Community Cultural Society in Abu Dhabi’.
The event took place on the occasion of the third International Yoga Day in 2017. The article further states that ahead of the third International Yoga Day, the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim Community from India had organised a yoga session in Abu Dhabi. The event was held at the Bohra Islamic Cultural Centre at Mohammad Bin Zayed city.
Meanwhile, the other photo shows school children in Ahmedabad practising yoga before the first International Yoga Day celebrations in 2015, as per a report by Zee News. Another report by VOA carried the same photograph dated June 18, 2015. The caption with the VOA News article reads ‘Indian Muslim students practice yoga at a school ahead of first International Yoga Day in Ahmadabad, India, Wednesday, June 17, 2015. The United Nations has declared that June 21 will be observed as the International Day of Yoga. The Zee News picture too had a similar caption.
According to an NDTV report, Yoga was ‘not officially permitted in Saudi Arabia for decades’. However, the Kingdom had in November 2017 ‘recognised yoga as a sport amid a new liberalisation drive’. A report published in WION on June 21, 2021, states that Saudi Arabia has signed a memorandum of understanding with India for establishing a formal ‘yoga protocol (standards)’ for promotion of yoga in the Kingdom. On June 21, the highlight of the celebrations was the signing of a historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on yoga cooperation between the Leaders Development Institute, Saudi Ministry of Sports, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, Ministry of AYUSH, government of India.
Yoga has come a long way in Saudi Arabia since gaining recognition as a sporting activity in 2017 and the signing of this MoU is a major step towards further promotion of yoga as it paves the way for the establishment of formal yoga standards and courses in the Kingdom, with such a step being undertaken for the first time by any country in the Gulf region.
Thus, the viral claim is false as neither of these photographs show people in Saudi Arabia practising yoga and both the images are old.
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