Muslims can take Allah's name in place of shlokas: Minister

June 11, 2015 16:26

After dropping 'surya namaskar' from the official yoga programme to "avoid controversy", the government today said chanting 'shlokas' during 'International Yoga Day' was not "compulsory" and appealed to Muslims to participate in the event. Shripad Naik, Minister for AYUSH, the coordinating ministry for the event at Rajpath on June 21, said Muslims can "take the name of Allah instead of reciting 'shlokas'" during the event.

While some minority groups have objected to the holding of the event by government, especially inclusion of Surya namskar, representatives of some Muslim organisations who met Naik today said those opposing yoga were "enemies of humanity" and yoga has nothing to do with religion.

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