An ancient discipline’s appeal seemed to get overshadowed by a modern-day behemoth’s pulling power as tens of thousands descended on Red Road on Sunday morning to celebrate International Yoga Day with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Many had reached the venue, at the heart of the city’s “green lungs”, before sunrise. As the action began a little before 7am, experts, amateurs and novices stretched and bent for nearly an hour, the crowd spilling onto adjoining roads.

Many among the estimated gathering of 40,000 were ready to acknowledge that Modi’s charisma rather than yoga’s allure had drawn them out of their homes.

“I have been running since I was a teenager. I have now taken up yoga only because of Modiji. Whatever Modiji says, I will do,” confessed Rajesh Kumar Chandan, 53, a businessman and stock trader from Kankurgachhi.

Samrat Sikder, a schoolteacher who had come from Ranaghat with wife Sangita and daughter Samadrita, underlined that a proposal by Modi in late 2014 had led to the United Nations declaring June 21 as International Yoga Day.

“Yoga is the foundation of Indian civilisation. India showed the way thousands of years ago; Modi showed the way in 2014,” Sikder said. “We are grateful that the main event is being celebrated at our home (Bengal) this time.”

The Sikders had caught a local train just after 4am and, from Dum Dum, boarded a Metro train. Metro began operations at 4am on Sunday, five hours ahead of the usual Sunday schedule, for people headed to Red Road.

Samadrita, a Class III student who receives tennis coaching at a club in the Maidan area, was to head there from Red Road.

Modi arrived at the venue around 6.30. He spoke for a few minutes from the dais from about 6.46am, after short speeches by Union ayush minister Prataprao Ganpatrao Jadhav and chief minister Suvendu Adhikari. Governor R.N. Ravi was present but did not speak.

After getting off the dais, the Prime Minister did some stretching himself before beginning to move about surveying the participants, occasionally rectifying the postures of some.

Intermittent chants of “Modi, Modi”, “Jai Shri Ram” and “Bharata Mata ki jai” were heard after the programme ended around 7.50am.

The theme for this year’s Yoga Day — the 12th since the first was held on June 21, 2015 — was “Yoga for Healthy Ageing”, focusing on longevity for an ageing global population.

“The theme should be seen as one for people of all ages, not just the elderly. Yoga is necessary not just for our lifestyle but for a better future for the world,” Modi said in his speech.

“Let us take a pledge: We will not limit yoga to just one day. We will make yoga a part of our lives, a part of our families, and we will make it a part of our coming generations.”

Yoga Day celebrations in Bengal had so far been fragmented. But the BJP’s stunning election victory on May 4 changed everything, with the party’s famed publicity machine going all out to promote the event.

In the run-up to Sunday, the city was swathed in Modicutouts.

The choice of venue seemed intended to make a political point. Red Road was shut for a week leading up to the programme. A court challenge to the closure was unsuccessful.

Last month, the state’s new BJP government had shifted the Eid prayers — held on Red Road for nearlyfive decades — to the Brigade Parade Grounds, objecting to the occupation of major thoroughfares for religious gatherings.

On Sunday, though, the crowd and the prevailing sentiment seemed to suggest that Modi was above criticism.

Some of the Prime Minister’s fans like South Calcutta residents Alpa Thacker, Zarna Shah and Seema Parekh had one grouse, though.

“There should have been more giant screens — we could barely catch a glimpse of Modiji,” Thacker, who had come from Lake Market, said.

To some like Bidwattama Chatterjee, 27, who teaches yoga at a private school in Howrah, the mass yoga itself was a big enough attraction.

Mahesh and Puja Kejriwal, both chartered accountants, who had come with their six-year-old son Atharv from a housing complex in Phoolbagan, said they had already hired a yoga instructor for the boy. “Yoga unites people. It also unites a person with his own self in a way the person can never know is otherwise possible,” Puja said.

But not everyone seemed so philosophically inclined. Long after the event had ended, people were seen taking selfies on the dais.

“This is where Modiji spoke from. I’m still having goosebumps. I can spend the whole day just standing here,” said Ramesh Sarangi, a south Calcutta resident.

Krishna Gopal Das, 44, a Dum Dum resident, was stretching on a mat on Dufferin Road, which runs parallel to Red Road.

“The sky is cloudy but there is no rain. Even the gods favour Modiji,” he gushed.

The heavens did open up, but only after the programme had ended.