Modi-led Yoga Day event at UN sets Guinness world record

Meets Musk, industry leaders before heading to Washington for dinner with Bidens

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off his US visit Wednesday by leading the Yoga Day celebrations at the United Nations headquarters in New York with the event setting a Guinness world record for most nationalities present at any yoga event.

“Yoga comes from India and it is a very old tradition. Yoga is free from copyrights, patents and free from royalty payments. Yoga is adaptable to your age, gender and fitness level. Yoga is portable and is truly universal,” said Modi sporting a customised white yoga T-shirt and trousers before joining the yoga session.

READ: Indian embassy celebrates eighth International Yoga Day (June 20, 2022)

UN General Assembly President Csaba Korosi, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ruchira Kamboj and New York Mayor Eric Adams also addressed the gathering while welcoming Modi at whose suggestion June 21 was declared International Yoga Day in 2014.

“Today’s celebration is, indeed, very special as PM Modi will lead us in doing yoga here,” said Kamboj. “It is under his leadership that June 21 was declared International Yoga Day. It is only fitting that the inspiration behind the idea is with us today in the scenic multicultural setting of the UN.”

Hollywood actor Richard Gere, UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed, Vala Afshar, the chief digital evangelist at Salesforce, American singer and actor Mary Millben, composer Ricky Kej and chef Vikas Khanna, among others joined the event.

“Today there was a Guinness World Records title attempt for most nationalities in a Yoga lesson. The mark to be was 140 nationalities. Today in New York, at the UN, they have 135. It is a new Guinness world records title,” Michael Empric, Guinness World Records official adjudicator told reporters.

Yoga Day event at the UN headquarters concluded with Modi taking selfies with the people present at the event.

READ: Prime Minister Narendra Modi State visit to the US (June 21, 2023)

Earlier, after his arrival in the US on Tuesday, Modi met over two dozen prominent people including industry leaders, Nobel laureates, economists, artists, scientists, scholars, entrepreneurs, academicians, and health sector experts.

Modi held talks with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, investor Ray Dalio, Lebanese-American essayist Nassim Nicholas Taleb, senior World Bank official Paul Romer, and Indian-origin singer Falu Shah.

Modi also took part in meetings with several other distinguished individuals, including Jeff Smith, an accomplished author and research fellow at Heritage’s Asian Studies Center, and Michael Froman, a former US trade representative and diplomat.

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Modi also met Peter Agre, a highly regarded American physician and Nobel laureate and engaged with Chandrika Tandon, an Indian American businesswoman and Grammy-nominated artist.

Modi leaves for Washington in the evening for a private dinner at the White House with the President and First Lady Jill Biden before the start of his official State visit Thursday.

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