All roads lead to Red Rd on Yoga Day: 35k within security ring, 30k outside as Kolkata tries to get into record books
Times of India | 22 June 2026
Kolkata: Around 65,000 yoga enthusiasts from all over the state, including a few from outside Bengal, converged on Red Road, a little after sunrise, to participate in the 12th International Day of Yoga celebrations led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday. While 35,000-odd people armed with QR codes passed the “security hurdles” to experience performing yoga with the PM, about 30,000 others who “failed” to cross the guardrails for lack of registrations sat on the road outside the venue and took art in the session between 6.30 am and 7.50 am.
At the crack of dawn, the participants — aged between 8 and 80 — started reaching Red Road from different parts of the country and Bengal. Some of them travelled from places like Mumbai, Durgapur, Cooch Behar, Baruipur, Nadia and Shyamnagar, among others, and reached Red Road around 4 am to witness the mega event hosted by the state for the first time since its introduction in 2014. The participants were given mats as they were not allowed entry with the mats they had brought.
Yoga enthusiast Sujit Nandi travelled to Howrah station by Poorva Express at midnight. After spending the night in the Mayo Road-Red Road area along with 10 others from his group, he came to the venue around 4.45 am. “The International Yoga Day celebration has been taking place for the last 12 years, but this is the first time Bengal hosted the event in Kolkata. This brought me to the city,” said Nandi.
On Sunday morning, all approaching roads to the main venue on Red Road were restricted. Despite the rain that started after the event, dismantling of the dais began at a fast pace and cops said Red Road was likely to be opened to traffic post-midnight.
The session started with free-hand warm-up exercises before moving into the main practice of ‘Yogasanas’. Before every specific posture, experts narrated how the practice contributes to healthy living. While the PM taking a stroll at the venue, people waved at him.
Palakshi Goel, a class XII student of Sri Sri Academy, said, “Apart from performing advanced yoga poses, we also demonstrated advanced yoga techniques.”
There were some disappointed enthusiasts like Prerna Badalia, a yoga instructor who flew in from Mumbai to attend this special day but had to end up doing asanas outside the venue. Sayantani Das, a class X student of Howrah’s Yogesh Chandra Girls’ School, performed yoga on the road with two idols of ‘Gopal’ on her mat. “My father is a yoga trainer who was equally excited like me about the event. Had we known about the registration process, we could have gained entry,” she said.