Modi has taken a leaf out of the ALS challenge, and has tagged 9 people on twitter to take up the campaign and spread awareness. The celebrities include Indian cricket star Sachin Tendulkar, Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra, yoga teacher Baba Ramdev, industrialist Anil Ambani, Bollywood actors Salman Khan and Aamir Khan, Goa Governor Mridula Sinha, the team of an Indian TV serial, South Indian superstar, Kamal Hassan, and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. With this, the Prime Minister is hoping to set off a campaign that will “sweep” up every Indian and spread the awareness of cleanliness.
The campaign translates from Hindi to English as Clean India Initiative. Swacch means clean, Bharat refers to the traditional name for India, that derives from the name of the ancient Indian emperor, Bharat, and Abhiyan means initiative.
Each of the celebrities accepted the challenge. Bharat Mata Ki Jai was the general tenor of each of their responses. “I humbly accept the challenge”, tweeted Sachin, and Priyanka tweeted, “If we dont get involved & support this campaign, nothing can happen. But if we come together we can make a difference. #CleanIndiaCampaign.” Aamir Khan, who was present with Modi during the India Gate launch tweeted, “Sirf ek kadam…” echoing the Prime Minister’s call that if each Indian took just one step, the nation would take 1.25 billion steps.
Modi himself wielded the broom at a colony in Delhi and launched the mission at New Delhi’s iconic India Gate monument. Several government departments and ministries have taken up the campaign with vigor. The Home Ministry has ordered all police stations to clean up their premises in a month. The Railways has urged all office-bearers to devote 100 hours a year over and above their regular work hours to cleanliness drives.
The Sports Authority of India also organised a ‘Walkathon’ on October 2, and the CHief Minister of Kerala inaugurated it. The event was attended by Olympians from the state K M Beenamol and S Omanakumari.