Bhopal, Jan 11 (IANS) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will lead 50 lakh school students and employees in a yoga exercise Thursday in an attempt to set a Guinness World Record on largest, multi-city aerobics demonstration, a minister said.

Surya Namaskar is likely to be performed simultaneously by over 50 lakh people across the state at a time when Muslim clerics have issued ‘fatwa’ to students from the community not to bow before Sun as it was “un-Islamic”.

School Education Minister Archana Chitnis said Wednesday that participation in the mass Surya Namaskar was voluntary. “Surya Namaskar is a healthy yogic exercise. And we are not imposing it. It is not mandatory for all.”

The government has issued circulars to district collectors and education officers, among others, to make the participation in the yoga exercise a record breaking one, said an official.

At present, Kazakhstan holds the world record with 4,845,098 people participating in a multi-city aerobics demonstration there.

Three Muslim clerics Mohammad Abul Kalam Kashmi, Mufti Sayyed Babar Hussain and Shahar Qazi Sayyed Mustaque Ali Nadvi earlier issued fatwa against the exercise, saying Islam did not allow Surya Namaskar.