One of Narendra Modi’s most enduring images as prime minister has him performing yoga on Rajpath, New Delhi’s main boulevard, along with hundreds of Indians behind him.
That was the first International Yoga Day, June 21, 2015, a United Nations event that the Indian leader was instrumental in instituting. It was projected as an extension of his nationalist ideology as much as his personal physical fitness and energy. Indeed, the latter is one of the pillars on which the Narendra Modi edifice stands in India.
Since then, Modi has often held forth on yoga and its importance, even as his ardent followers circulated his morning regimen on the internet and social media with photographs of him meditating in yogic postures or performing various stretches.
Today (June 13), he joined the bandwagon of Indian celebrities who have for the past few weeks been posting their workout videos on Twitter, “challenging” a handful of others to follow suit.
The 67-year-old posted a 1.48 minute video of his morning routine in which he is seen walking on grass, pebbles, water, and gravel, among other things, and stretching backward on a rock. This routine, he says, is inspired by the five elements of nature—air, water, fire, earth, and ether.
The video was in response to the #HumFitTohIndiaFit (“India’s fit if we are fit”) challenge posed to him on May 23 by cricketer Virat Kohli.
The Twitter trend itself was initiated by Indian sports minister and Olympic silver medalist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on May 21. Others who caught on included badminton ace Saina Nehwal and Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan.
Modi has now tagged HD Kumaraswamy, the newly-appointed chief minister of the state of Karnataka, table tennis player Manika Batra, and Indian police officers, especially those above 40.