Swachh Bharat fail: Maybe PM Modi needs to convince his ministers first

Celebrities may be taking Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan seriously, but some of his ministers clearly are not that bothered about the PM’s mission for a clean India. Kandivali BJP corporator Mukesh Mistry is a case in point. He thought just taking photos with a broom in hand would be enough to show he had done his bit for the prime minister’s pet project. [caption id=“attachment_1830979” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PM Modi inaugurates the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Image courtesy: PIB[/caption] DNA reported tha_t “Mistry from Ward 27, comprising Kandivli (West) carried out a ‘cleanliness drive’ with brooms on a clean road and posed for pictures and uploaded them on a social networking site. The entire drama was co-ordinated by his supporters and it was over in about 20 minutes.”_ Not just that, the corporator and his men also made sure that illegal hawkers, who are otherwise allowed to sit on the streets, were removed from the area for it to look cleaner. “On Saturday morning, the civic staff of R-South ward, along with the license department van and staff from the removal of encroachment department, swung into action to ensure that all the hawker on Mathuradas Road are evicted to make road for Mistry. The civic staff signalled the hawkers to flee from the road as the license van approached,” claims the DNA report. Photo ops may be fun, but such incidents undermine the potential of campaigns like Swachh Bharat. Taken seriously, it can actually make India cleaner and solve a lot of our health problems as well. But there is always a minister who would play these dirty tricks making citizens lose trust in their government. This is not the first of such incidents. In September, Dehli sanitation workers had actually littered so that a union minister could come and clean it. The Hindu had reported, “Sanitation workers became litterbugs when they threw plastic bottles and crumpled pieces of paper outside the Red Fort so a Union Minister could get his photo-op while picking up the garbage.” The minister in question was MoS for Culture and Tourism Shripad Naik. The Hindu reported that, “The stage-managed littering seemed to work out with the Minister being mobbed by camerapersons and ordinary visitors, who were curious to see what the man dressed in a sparkling white kurta was up to.” Such incidents are not just shameful but reflect poorly upon Modi’s government. If the prime minister really aims for a cleaner India, may he should start with his dirty ministers.