BJP MP brushes off cleanliness drive under Swachh Bharat Mission as a 'publicity stunt', refuses to hold broom

In an embarrassment for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its Bahraich MP Savitri Bai Phule refused to hold a broom during the cleanliness drive under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and even called the event “a publicity stunt”. [caption id=“attachment_5320651” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Savitri Bai Phule. News18[/caption] “I am an elected Member of Parliament from a reserved seat. If I just hold the broom, will this place get cleaned?” Hindustan Times quoted Phule as saying. President Ram Nath Kovind earlier said the Swachh Bharat Mission has become a mass movement and a revolution playing out in real time. “Swachh Bharat is a revolution playing out in real time. As an instrument of mass mobilisation, as a people’s movement, and as a national goal towards which there is near total commitment, it represents the spirit of our independence movement,” he said. In September, a top government official told PTI the sanitation coverage in rural India under the Swachh Bharat Mission has more than doubled to 92 percent and the country is on its way to become open defecation free (ODF) by next year. “This programme is the largest behavioural change programme in the world and 4.3 lakh villages have become ODF till now,” the official said. With inputs from PTI