New Delhi/IBNS: On the ninth International Yoga Day, as the Congress Wednesday thanked former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for "popularising yoga", senior party leader Shashi Tharoor replied in the affirmative but gave credit to the BJP-led government for popularising and internationalising the same.

The Congress tweeted a picture of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru performing Yoga and said, "On International Day of Yoga, we thank Pt. Nehru, who was instrumental in popularising Yoga & even made it a part of national policy."

Shashi Tharoor reacted to the tweet and said, "Indeed! We should also acknowledge all those who revived & popularised yoga, including our government, PMOIndia & @MEAIndia, for internationalising #InternationalYogaDay through the @UN. As I have argued for decades, yoga is a vital part of our soft power across the world & it's great to see it recognized."

Earlier, Shashi Tharoor cautioned Congress to not get complacent after winning the assembly elections in Karnataka and said that the party should not assume that "If it worked in one state, it can work nationally", referring to the general elections next year.

Tharoor said that Congress won in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh months before the 2019 general elections but performed poorly in the Lok Sabha elections.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday led the yoga event at the United Nations building in New York on the occasion of International Yoga Day.

This year's theme for International Yoga Day is 'Yoga for Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam'.

President Droupadi Murmu performed Yoga at Rashtrapati Bhavan while Defence Minister Rajnath Singh participated in a yoga day event onboard INS Vikrant.