Maharashtra colleges told to hold Surya Namaskar sessions

Move after ‘request’ from RSS-linked sports outfit.

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Non-agricultural universities in Maharashtra have been asked to hold Surya Namaskar training sessions between January 12 and January 26.

Following a “request” letter from a little-known sports organisation with links to the RSS, the Directorate of Higher Education in Pune and state’s Higher and Technical Education department have urged vice-chancellors of all non-agricultural universities in Maharashtra to hold training and practice sessions of Surya Namaskar at the university and college levels between January 12, which is Swami Vivekanand’s birth anniversary, and January 26, the Republic Day.

The “request” came from Krida Bharti, whose last big public sports event in Maharashtra was a memorial race for RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in 2014. The letter by Dr Shashikant Chintamani and Uday Kahalekar, members of Krida Bharti, Maharashtra unit, was first addressed to the state’s Higher and Technical Education Department on November 26, 2014.

“We have been celebrating the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda as national youth day, and Surya Namaskar din and rathsaptami since 2005 in Maharashtra. If it is implemented at the university level, it will spread a good message among the youth,” says the letter signed by Chintamani and Kahalekar. It further reads, “On this occasion, colleges should organise training in Surya Namaskar from January 12-26. The state government should implement this programme in Maharashtra,” the letter reads.

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The letter sent to vice-chancellors of all non-agricultural universities in Maharashtra by the state’s Higher and Technical Education department reads, “Dr Chintamani and Kahalekar have requested that training and practical sessions of Surya Namaskar exercise of yoga be held at the university level between January 12, which is Swami Vivekanand’s birth anniversary and January 26, which is ‘World Surya Namaskar Day’ and ‘rathsaptami’. Please take necessary action at your level.”

The letter is now on the website of Mumbai University, under the section, “Department of Student’s Welfare”. Speaking from Delhi, Chetan Chauhan, national president of Krida Bharati, told The Indian Express, “Yoga is a form of exercise and it will help the children stay fit and maintain a healthy lifestyle.”

With inputs from Nihal Koshie

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