Top government functionaries, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, and other senior BJP leaders will attend International Yoga Day events across the country on Friday.
The International Day of Yoga is celebrated annually on June 21 to raise global awareness about the benefits of the ancient Indian practice.
On December 11, 2014, the United Nations General Assembly declared June 21 as 'International Day of Yoga', months after Prime Minister Modi proposed the idea
While the prime minister will lead the nation in celebrating the occasion by participating in a mega event in Ranchi, Shah will be in Rohtak and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in the national capital.
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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) working president J P Nadda will perform yoga, along with other party leaders and workers, at a park opposite the headquarters of the saffron party on Deen Dayal Upadhyaya (DDU) Marg in Delhi.
Besides, newly-elected Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will participate in an event to be held on the premises of the Parliament House complex, officials said on Thursday.
In Delhi, a host of events have been planned to mark the day celebrated globally on June 21.
All necessary arrangements were being made at the Prabhat Tara ground in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand, amid tight security, officials said.
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The defence minister will attend an early morning yoga session at Rajpath, along with New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi and a large number of people.
The Delhi BJP would host around 300 yoga sessions across the national capital, in which about 10 lakh people were expected to participate, its chief Manoj Tiwari said.
"Senior BJP leaders and Union ministers will take part in 40 big events on International Yoga Day," he added.
Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir will attend a yoga session at the Yamuna Sports Complex in Shahdara.
Other Union ministers who would be attending International Yoga Day events in Delhi were Ravi Shankar Prasad (Hauz Khas), Piyush Goyal (Lodhi Garden), Harsh Vardhan (Kudesia Garden, Civil Lines), Smriti Irani (Dada Dev Ground, Raj Nagar), Thawar Chand Gehlot (Sangam Vihar), Dharmendra Pradhan (Talkatora Garden), Ramesh Pokhriyal (Burari), Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (Ramjas Sports Ground, Patel Nagar) and Arjun Munda (Lado Sarai), among others, a Delhi BJP leader said.
The events were scheduled to begin at 6.30 am, he added.
Tiwari, who represents North East Delhi in the Lok Sabha, will perform yoga, along with BJP national general secretary Arun Singh and Union minister Purushottam Rupala, at Ghonda in his constituency.
All three BJP-led municipal corporations in the national capital have also planned events for the day.
The North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) will host an event at Qudsia Bagh, near Kashmiri Gate, ISBT, while the south corporation will hold an event at Talkatora Stadium.
PTI
