Rajasthan Education Minister Madan Dilawar has sparked a controversy after he participated in a Surya Namaskar event with schoolchildren in Jaipur on Thursday. The event, which was organised by the state government to mark the occasion of Surya Saptami, aimed to create a world record by having over three lakh students perform the yoga exercise simultaneously across the state.
However, the minister’s involvement in the event has drawn criticism from several Muslim groups, who have opposed the government’s order to make Surya Namaskar compulsory for all students in government schools. They have argued that the exercise involves worshipping the sun, which is against their religious beliefs. They have also filed a petition in the Rajasthan High Court, seeking to quash the order and stop the enforcement of Surya Namaskar in schools.
The High Court, however, dismissed the petition on Wednesday, stating that the government had not made any changes in the curriculum or syllabus of the schools, and that the exercise was optional for the students. The court also observed that Surya Namaskar was beneficial for the health and well-being of the students, and that it did not violate their fundamental rights.
The minister, meanwhile, has defended his decision to join the event, saying that he wanted to motivate the students and teachers to adopt a healthy lifestyle. He also claimed that Surya Namaskar was not a religious practice, but a scientific one, and that it had nothing to do with any particular community or faith. He said that the government had no intention of hurting anyone’s sentiments, and that the exercise was meant to promote national integration and harmony.
The Surya Namaskar event, which was held in 76,000 schools in the state, was recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest mass yoga demonstration in the world. The previous record was held by China, where 1.5 lakh people had performed yoga in 2018. The state government has hailed the event as a historic achievement, and has announced that it will continue to organize such events in the future.
