Report on launching of cleanliness drive by Narendra Modi

New Delhi, 2 October 2014

As part of the ‘Clean India’ campaign that Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched today, he said he had invited nine people to join the cleanliness drive and requested each of them to draw nine more into the initiative to take it viral.

Modi asked people to capture video or photo of garbage, start cleaning it and also capture the video of that act and later post photo/video of clean place.

The Prime Minister said he had tagged in his cleanliness challenge – Goa governor Mridula Sinha, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, yoga guru Baba Ramdev, Congress lawmaker and former union minister Shashi Tharoor, actors Kamal Haasan, Priyanka Chopra and Salman Khan, industrialist Anil Ambani and the team of popular TV serial Tarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashma.

“This is not about Modi… Modi is only one of its 1.2 billion people… this is a people’s task,” the PM said, urging Indians to clean every corner of the country. He said citizens needed to “change their mindset and join hands to clean up India.”

The ‘Swachh Bharat’ or ‘Clean India’ campaign he said was beyond politics. “It is inspired by patriotism not politics,” he said, lauding previous governments for their efforts towards cleanliness.

“If Indians can reach Mars, they certainly can clean up the country,” the Prime Minister said, admitting that it was a difficult task.

“But we have five years,” he said, referring to his goal of a clean India 2019, Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary.

More from Modi’s speech:Mahatma Gandhi gave us the message quit India, clean India.Bapu’s dream of a clean India is still unfulfilled.

I would like to congratulate those who worked for this programme earlier. They must have been in different forms and with different names but the initiative was to ensure a clean India.The Prime Minister is a son of India first and later the Prime Minister.

Swachh Bharat campaign logo is not just a logo. It is as if Gandhiji is watching us, asking as when will we clean India. This government is not trying to take credit for the Clean India campaign. I know there will be criticism in a few days – look what happened? But I have come prepared to face that. Is cleaning just the job of a sweeper? Is it not our duty too? Do citizens have no role in this? We have to change this mindset. If Indians can reach Mars then can’t Indians go and clean our streets and roads? India can do it, the people of India can do it. This is a very difficult mission, but by 2019 we should accomplish it. If this is politicized or seen as a photo-op then we will not be doing justice to this mission. I am sure we will all come together and fulfill this mission. This is a a job for 125 crore people and I say this 125 crore times. It isn’t a job for Modi or the government alone. Gandhi didn’t clean every village, but his commitment inspired millions to take up the task. Government and ministers can’t do it alone, it is ‘jan samanya ka’ job. Quit India was successful as the entire country was a part of that movement, I would ask 125 crore people to join this campaign to make India a clean place. Don’t trust me or my government, trust the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi.

The enthusiasm I am seeing on my social media pages for this campaign is heartening. We should pledge today to make it a clean India – ‘I will not litter or allow anyone to litter’. When we go abroad we see how clean those countries are, we don’t see them spitting around or throwing waste anywhere they wish to. Those places are clean because that is their dedication to cleanliness.