Swachh Bharat mission is beyond politics, says PM Modi on launch of cleanliness drive

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today wielded a broom to launch his pet Swachh Bharat mission, a cleanliness drive across India, on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

After paying tributes at the memorials of Mahatma Gandhi and former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on their birth anniversaries, Modi himself swept a pavement at Valmiki Basti, a colony of sanitation workers here, before the formal launch of the ‘Clean India’ drive at Rajpath.

While launching the mission at Mandir Marg here, he also made a surprise visit at the local police station to check on cleanliness.

Accompanied by officials, the Prime Minister collected the garbage and put it in a bin. He later interacted with the children there.

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“I bow to Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary….

Gandhiji’s thoughts and beliefs remain a great inspiration for us. Let us dedicate ourselves to building the India of Gandhiji’s dreams,” he said in a series of tweets.

He also recalled Shastri’s famous ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ slogan.

In his address to the nation he said:

“Swachh Bharat mission is beyond politics. It is inspired by patriotism and not politics. All govts have done something or the other to achieve cleanliness in the country; I greet all of them for this. I do not make any claim that only this government has done everything.”

He began his day by paying tributes to Gandhi at Raj Ghat and Lal Bahadur Shastri at Vijay Ghat.

About 31 lakh central government employees across the country took a pledge of cleanliness in various public functions organised today as part of Modi government’s ‘Clean India’ mission.

In addition, lakhs of state government employees have been asked to be part of this massive drive.

PTI