After much controversy over reports on Tuesday that self-proclaimed godman and yoga guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh had been nominated for a Dronacharya award by the Yoga Federation of India, Sports Minister Vijay Goel downplayed the notion, reiterating that yoga was not considered a sport under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports’ auspices.

In December 2016, the sports ministry had de-recognised yoga as a sport, just 14 months after it had been made a “priority sport”. The reason cited was the difficulty in having one national sport federation for yoga as the practice had many dimensions.

In a couple of tweets on Thursday, Goel stated that though yoga was an important subject to the current government dispensation, it fell under the auspices of the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH). Hence, the Sports Ministry would not be giving any award in yoga as it was not under their subject or consideration.