ICC Note:

A local pastor in Tamil Nadu was arrested after speaking against compulsory yoga in Indian schools. Compulsory yoga, argued the pastor, allows overtly Hindu terminology and practices to dominate over religious minorities’ practices. Despite the pastor’s acknowledgment of yoga’s health benefits, the government still arrested him for his critique of compulsory yoga in schools.

04/02/2017 India (Asia News) – Police in Tamil Nadu arrested a Pentecostal clergyman for criticising yoga.

Speaking to AsiaNews, Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), said that Rev Mohan was jailed for speaking out “against compulsory yoga in schools and elsewhere”, which “forcibly promotes a Hindu lifestyle.”

The pastor “is a leader involved in civil society,” George said. He “works in favour of Dalits and the poor in Tamil Nadu’s rural remote areas.”

“Many people,” the GCIC president added, “go to his Pentecostal church seeking refuge and comfort from the oppression of the caste system, which is still strong in South India. By contrast, in his church, they are treated equally and with dignity.”

Rev Mohan was arrested because of one of his sermons “in which he spoke against the use of Hindu terminology in the practice of yoga.” However, “the clergyman has praised the ancient Indian practice for its beneficial effects on mental and physical health”.

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