Jaipur, Feb 15 : Rajasthan Education Minister Madan Dilawar said on Thursday that practising 'Surya Namaskar' keeps the human body and mind healthy as well as helps a person develop good positive thoughts and keep away from bad habits.


The students of private and government schools participated in a Surya Namaskar programme which started here in Rajasthan on Thursday.

'Practice of Surya Namaskar keeps the body and mind healthy. Good thoughts come and vices run away. When good thoughts originate in the mind, there is no room for vices. This will not lead to any kind of deficiency in life and we will keep moving forward," said the Minister at the Chaugan stadium in Jaipur.

He was addressing the state programme as the chief guest.

In the programme, many dignitaries, including Dilawar himself and State Director of Secondary Education Ashish Modi, collectively did 'Surya Namaskar' among the students.

Dilawar said, "There has never been any opposition regarding this practice in the state. Now Surya Namaskar will be done in schools every day."

Regarding the opposition to Surya Namaskar, the Education Minister said, "When I was coming to attend this programme, I got calls from many Muslim brothers and they congratulated me for this historic programme."

Everyone is welcoming this decision together, he added.

The Minister said: "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promoted yoga at the global level. On his initiative, June 21 is celebrated every year as the International Yoga Day by the United Nations. Thanks to this, more than 100 countries of the world have adopted yoga."

A few petitions were filed by Muslim organisations which claimed that the decision to make Surya Namaskar mandatory is "unconstitutional and violates Article 25 of the Constitution" which guarantees the freedom to profess, practice and propagate religion to all citizens.

The High Court rejected one of the petitions, saying the Muslim Forum, which filed the petition, is not a registered organisation and that only registered organisations or individuals can personally file petitions in the court.

However, it announced February 20 as the hearing date on the petition filed by All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen.

/IANS