Indian Embassy organized 5th International Yoga Day in Kuwait at Embassy auditorium on Thursday July 20th.
HE Ambassador Ali Sulaiman Al Saeid, Kuwait Assistant Foreign Minister for Asia Affairs was the Chief Guest for the Yoga Day celebration at Embassy auditorium in which several Kuwaiti dignitaries including Mr Kamel Al-Abdul Jaleel Acting Secretary General of National Council for Culture, Arts and Letter, HE Dr Tarek Elsheikh - Representative of the UN Secretary General and Resident Coordinator of the UNDP were present. Ambassadors of various foreign countries, other Kuwaiti dignitaries were also present.
The event started by Video presentation showing Prime Minister’s message on the International Yoga Day followed by the demonstration of Common Yoga Protocol released by the Government of India. Various association such as Seva Darshan, Amma Kuwait, Heartfulness and Harmony Yoga demonstrated the Yoga postures.
Representatives of various Indian Community associations were invited for the event. However unlike previous years, less number of community members and Yoga enthusiasts participated in this year’s Yoga Day celebration. Many of the Yoga enthusiasts told that the program was not given much publicity by the Embassy.
In previous years, Indian Embassy organized Curtain Raiser events for Yoga Day at various open air places including Ahmadi Park and Al Shaheed Park were large number of community members and Yoga enthusiasts of various nationalities participated. Prominent Kuwaiti dignitaries including then Minister for Amiri Diwan HH Sheikh Nasser Al Sabah, etc attended previous years’ functions which witnessed yoga demonstrations by large number of Yoga practitioners.
The audience sung the national anthem by themselves after the event was over created an unpleasant scene in front of the selected VIPs.
As this year Yoga Day falls on Friday, and official Yoga Day function by Embassy was held on Thursday, many yoga practitioners and private Yoga teams organized separate Yoga Day celebrations at various places on Friday were large number of community members participated.