Yoga helped Amit Shah lose 20 kg, says yoga guru Ramdev

NEW DELHI: Yoga guru Ramdev said on Tuesday that BJP president Amit Shah managed to lose as much as 20 kilos thanks to practicing yoga.

Ramdev was speaking at a yoga camp he held in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, a day before International Yoga Day.

"People who frivolously say that yoga is not a sport are ignorant and their opinion should be discarded. Yoga is also a sport and it should be included under the sports category," said Ramdev.


"Attempts should also be made to send yoga (as a sport) to the Olympics," he added.

Ramdev also weighed in on the BJP-led NDA's decision to name Dalit leader Ram Nath Kovind its nominee for the upcoming Presidential elections.

"Ramnath Kovind, who fought for the deprived and marginalised community, is a masterstroke by the BJP for the Presidential choice. People in opposition who see it as Dalit card are showing their narrow-mindedness," Ramdev said.

Kovind was one of the first Dalit leaders to join the BJP. He was the central government's advocate in the Supreme Court during the Janata Party government and finally joined the BJP in 1991, after 16 years of being a practicing lawyer.

He's currently governor of Bihar, where he's widely acclaimed for constituting a judicial commission to check irregularities in promotion of undeserving teachers, bungling of funds and appointment of undeserving candidates in universities.