PM Modi leads Yoga Day celebration at Rajpath, India sets two world records

NEW DELHI: On a humid summer morning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stretched his arms, bent his legs, rolled his neck and twisted every sinew in his body as India celebrated the first International Day of Yoga with gusto, muscling into the Guinness World Records.

Late Sunday evening, it was announced that the Union ministry of Ayush had set two records — for the largest yoga session ever with 35,985 participants and for most nationalities, 84, taking part at a single venue. The earlier record on the first count was held by Vivekanand Kendra, a Gwalior-based institute, with 29,973 participants.

All of last week, the hype surrounding the event was more like a forthcoming Salman film or a world heavyweight title bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Or, both put together. Yet nothing really prepared you for what you saw — a prime minister, literally on the mat, staring at the sky at Rajpath, one of the capital's most toffee-nosed boulevards.