These days everybody who is somebody in India is seen holding a broom in his or her hands to promote the Prime Minister’s ‘Clean India’ drive. Modi himself devoted not an insignificant part of his speech to it when on 29 September he spoke before an admiring crowd of expatriates in New York’s Madison Square. Government of India has cancelled the public holiday on Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary on 2 October, instructing its employees to participate in the cleanliness drive. Is there something more to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan than meets the eye?
Kaga Bhushundi SpeakEth
Suman K Sharma
‘Perhaps,’ said Kaga Bhushundiji jokingly, ‘Modiji wants to make another clean sweep in the country after his astounding victory in the general elections! But seriously, there is much to be cleaned in Bharat today. It’s a good idea to start with sanitation.’
‘I agree, Kagaji. But why make such a big show of it before the world? Cabinet Ministers, Secretaries to the Government of India, Police Commissioners sweeping roads and digging into office shelves for dust – as if they had nothing better to do! Ugh! What are all those safai karamcharis and cleaning staff for?
‘Son, I don’t blame you. It is your flawed nurture speaking. Back in 1946, if I may recall, it upset Mahatma Gandhi to find that the living quarters of servants in the Viceroy’s House – that is your Rashtrapati Bhavan now – were extremely dirty. “This is a state of affairs the ministers of our new Government will not tolerate,” he declared. If Jawahar Lal Nehru and Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel had no qualms over cleaning their own lavatories, proposed Gandhiji, others too should clean theirs. Like the people in the West, Bharatiyas should keep their lavatories spic and span, he said.’
‘That’s what we are doing, Kagaji. Peep into any washroom of a household, you will find shining tiles, sparkling fixtures and commodes that are washed thrice a day with toilet cleaner. Gone are the days when scavengers had to carry night soil over their heads.’
‘A poor crow that I am, would anyone allow me into their toilet? But I have a good idea of how clean your surroundings are. Take the city of Jammu. Your toilets may be sparkling, but the drains connecting your households reek of human excreta. Why? Because you don’t have a proper system of waste disposal. And there the filth lies breeding countless disease-carrying germs. Roads were dug up all over the town a few years ago for a drainage system, only to be leveled again; while the drains remain as filthy as ever before. Your lanes and alleys are littered and your waterways – the Tawi and the Ranbir Canal – have become convenient carriers of refuse. That’s what your city appears to me – not a very pretty sight. I wonder how the interiors of your homes look like.’
‘I don’t know what you are driving at, Kagaji. Despite its blemishes, Jammu is way cleaner than most of Indian cities. And our homes are not unclean either. In fact, we take pride in being neat and tidy.’
‘O that! Ask yourself: aren’t your homes stacked with things you really don’t want? Mahatma Gandhi had put it aptly, “. . . many households are so packed with all sorts of unnecessary decorations and furniture which one can very well do without, that a simple living man will feel suffocated in those surroundings. They are nothing but means of harbouring dust, bacteria and insects. ..”‘
‘We cannot throw away our possessions in the name of cleanliness.’ ‘Who asked you to do that? Cleanliness does not mean abandonment of one’s possessions: it’s but celebrating a purer way of life.
The Sanskrit word swachchhta or ‘self-purification’ says it more clearly – a constant endeavour to maintain a pristine environment, a clean body and a clean heart. External cleanliness is a must for a better and purer life. Think of a Bharat that is rid of litter, dust and filth. Envision a land where air and water are of pristine quality. Picture your homes and public places devoid of all clutter.
‘All that will be possible only if you are committed to maintain swachchhta!’
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