What is clean India campaign is a question that is asked by millions of people these days. These include not just Indians, but also foreigners who have traditionally considered India as a country that is dirty with unhygienic conditions of living. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, launched a clean India campaign recently with a lot of fanfare in the capital city of Delhi. He deliberately chose October 2nd as the launching date of the campaign that is the birth date of the Father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi. He poignantly remembered the virtue of cleanliness that was so dear to Mahatma Gandhi and gave a clarion call to all Indians to join him in this movement to make India clean. The name of the campaign is Swachch Bharat and it aims to turn every place in India clean and hygienic.
Massive support to this clean India initiative by the Prime Minister
Launching the campaign on 2nd October 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Gandhi said that cleanliness is a virtue that we should all cultivate. He went into a colony inhabited by sanitation workers and picked up a broom himself to clean a public place. He said that when Indians could fight a battle against the British rule and win independence from them, winning battle against poor sanitation is a miniscule task if every Indian took a pledge to keep his surroundings clean and healthy. The 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi would fall in the year 2019, and Modi urged Indians to free India of dirt and poor sanitation to pay real tribute to the Father of the nation for whom cleanliness was Godliness. Mahatma Gandhi, he said, was a fervent proponent of cleanliness and public sanitation, and by ridding India of unhygienic conditions and by keeping it clean, we Indians can pay real tribute to the Father of the Nation.
Cleanliness is a virtue that we should all cultivate
Speaking on the occasion, Modi said that there are many people who think that talking about cleanliness and sanitation is a very small thing for the Prime Minister of the country. However, for him, making the country clean and hygienic holds great significance as it is important not just for the health and sanitation of the people of the country but for also projecting a good and clean image of the country in the minds of the tourists who come to India.
Modi has been an ardent advocate of cleanliness
Clean India or Swachch Bharat has been a favorite slogan of the Prime Minister. He has talked about his passion to rid India of poor sanitation and filth in all his election campaign speeches as well as in his Independence Day speech that he gave from the Red Fort on 15th of August this year. His campaign has received massive support from people of all walks and sections of the society. He has invited some prominent personalities and celebrities like Kamal Hassan, Sachin Tendulkar, Priyanka Chopra, ShashiTharoor to come forward and join his campaign. It is the goal of this campaign to clean up all places of the country by 2nd October 2019, which is the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Images Courtesy:
- Narendra Modi image by Narendra Modi (CC BY 2.0)
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