Congress jittery over Modi's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
By Abishek Arora
Congress jittery over Modi's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
India Celebrates Gandhi Jayanti tomorrow, BJP Celebrates the anniversary of Swachh Bharat
The inception of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan by Honourable PM Modi has rightly outwitted the opposition Congress Party. Congress is left with nothing but to bite its nails and to support the Safaai Abhiyaan initiated by the BJP under the dynamic and outwitting leadership of Modi. Modi instituted the Cleanliness Campaign on October 2, 2014, and since its inception, the campaign has earned a lot of brownie points for Modi Govt. His move definitely baffled the opposition which had to succumb and fall in line as it didn’t find even an iota of objection against this much-hyped abhiyaan as cleanliness is axiomatically virtuous and is next to Godliness. Anybody opposing this move would be termed as a traitor, who would not like to make one’s own Motherland neat and clean. To add, Modi very wisely chose the date of inception of this movement, 2nd October, which happens to be the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation. Congress, till now had been reaping the harvest of its patrimony in the name of Mahatma Gandhi. Had it not been “Gandhi” family, congress would have lost its popularity among masses decades ago. It stayed in power and in the hearts of people for many years, mostly because of the name ‘Gandhi’, which bound the party and the whole nation in one thread.
Now, Modi has targeted that nucleus, the Gandhian image by trying to usurp the legacy and that too positively with a seeming bonafide intention. He is very deftly taking out the Gandhian trump card from Congress’s pocket publicly and Congress is feeling helpless and is unable to pay back in the same coin.
Congress had only one argument to counter ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ that it has reduced to a mere photo opportunity and it was not implemented in letter and spirit. Even after 5 years of inception, it has failed to bring some tangible results as heaps of garbage are still conspicuously visible and are still an eye sore.
“Swachh Bharat” can not happen because once a year, ministers and officers pick up brooms for some time, whereas throughout the year the populace keeps on clinging to the same old habits of throwing garbage in their vicinities trying to keep their own places clean.
If BJP is to associate its safai abhiyaan to Mahatma Gandhi, it should be borne in mind that Gandhi used to clean his toilet himself and that too everyday. Unless the Government makes it a “24×7 concept” by providing sewerage, sanitation, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan will remain a “much ado about nothing”.
After serving its five-year term since its inception in 2014, it has become symbolic. Actually Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology on cleanliness should be accepted in totality and not in piecemeal.
Congress claims that most of the schemes launched by the BJP are the same that were being practiced by Congress for years. But the BJP is talking big about these schemes with advertisements, which we Congress failed to do.
BJP, in turn, washes off its hands after having cleaned and swept the political ground for some time saying that this issue is the issue of the nation and therefore should not be politicized.
