When Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the International Yoga conference on Sunday morning, he listed many benefits of the practice. Among them were “opening and refining of the heart’s emotions leading to greater compassion, mutual understanding, and sensitivity to the needs of others.” As it turns out, Vice President Hamid Ansari received little compassion, understanding or sensitivity as Hindutva supporters on Twitter attacked him for his absence from the Yoga Day events.

The storm was set off when Bharatiya Janata Party national general secretary Ram Madhav sent out a tweet out asking why Ansari had been missing from the morning’s activities. He also charged Rajya Sabha TV, which is owned and controlled by the parliament’s upper house that the Vice President presides over, with blacking out Yoga Day events.

Madhav later deleted the tweet. He issued an apology tweet, which he later deleted as well.

Even though Madhav backtracked, others on Twitter began to attack the Vice President.



The editor in chief of the station had to take to Twitter to detail the channel's extensive coverage of the event.

Amidst the din, many social media users came out in support of the Vice President.

 

Thought Ansari's religion was never mentioned explicitly, it was obvious to everyone familiar with the debate that his critics were alluding to the fact that some Muslims had declared their intention to boycott Yoga Day because they claimed that yoga was a Hindu practice.

This isn't the first time Ansari has come under attack. On Republic Day, he faced a barrage from Hindutva supporters alleging that he had insulted the tricolour by failing to salute it during the playing of the national anthem. After the social media storm, not unlike the one today, the Vice President's office issued a clarification that he had followed official protocol that required the Vice President to stand at attention while the anthem was being performed.

 

Ram Madhav isn't the first BJP leader to make support International Yoga Day a marker of patriotism. Earlier this month BJP MP Yogi Adityanath remarked that those who refused to do the surya namaskar set of yoga poses should leave the country or drown themselves in the ocean.

Late on Sunday night, the controversy over Ansari's absence on Yoga Day got another twist. Press Trust of India issued a report saying that the Vice President had actually not been invited to the Yoga Day events.