A few days ago, India Today shared this video on their Twitter feed:
Yoga has over 30 mn practitioners in US & we haven’t claimed any intellectual property right over it: @narendramodi https://t.co/pGnIwVhAI0
— India Today (@IndiaToday) June 8, 2016
This excerpt is from a speech he gave the US cabinet that resulted in a stading ovation for the Indian Prime Minister. The trip is “both a love fest and a sales pitch,” Michael Kugelman, a senior associate for South Asia at the Wilson Center quoted to CNN in this article. The clip above is his light-hearted attempt to address the fact that although yoga has over 30 million practitioners in the US, the practice comes from Indian cultural heritage.
This isn’t to say that India isn’t taking steps to protect itself if push would come to shove. In February, the Indian government began documentation of around 1,500 yoga poses as a way to preserve yoga as their own creation while keeping the practice open and accessible to everyone.
Besides mention of yoga, the speech included reference to the democratic governments both countries have in common, as well as both countries’ roles in international security and legislation. According to the CNN article, the USA have been deepening ties with India in a bid for stronger relationships in the East considering friction with nearby China.
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