More than a broom

The broom may have become the most visible symbol of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, and its launch on Mahatma Gandhi’s 145 birth anniversary may look more like a photo-op, but with a commitment to spend Rs 62,000 crore in the next five years and other ambitious physical targets, it has the potential to change the face of the country. Modi has declared that his programme is not political, but then when the name Gandhi is involved, it just cannot be apolitical. For starters, Modi’s ideological parents – the Sangh Parivar –have a very convoluted relationship with the Mahatma. So, the very act of a Swayamsewak PM bringing the Mahatma into the mainstream of the nation’s consciousness is a leap of faith. Then it has to be acknowledged that the Mahatma as a symbol is not an a’la carte menu from which you can pick and choose.

His ideas and ideology of truth, non-violence and equality and a fundamental commitment to individual freedom are an inseparable package with his persona. One is quite confident that Modi the astute practitioner of the art of realpolitik is fully aware of this dimension. So, for him this Swachh Bharat campaign is also the much-needed first step in his political reform that casts him in the role of a nation-builder in a Gandhian mould, and not the Sangh stereotype. But then Swachh Bharat dream is also a mammoth physical and technological challenge. It does not come merely by constructing toilets. Rural Development Minister Nitin Gadkari recently confessed that a large number of constructed toilets are used largely as storage space with the expense going down the drain. Only if there is right technology available as per local needs for clean toilets that we can make some headway. The technological and feasibility challenges of tackling urban and rural pollution in creating a clean environment would surely prove more daunting than sending the Mangalyaan into the Mars orbit, simply because there is no one size fits all kind of a solution available. The participation of the corporate sector in the programme is also a positive sign. Every citizen has to get out of ‘what’s there for me in this’ mindset, and work with the real Gandhian spirit of selfless service. We have to remember that he advocated that cleanliness is next to godliness. Not just that he got his wife Kasturba to participate in the activity, irrespective of her opposition. So, more than wielding the broom, all of us need to get into the real Gandhian attitude to make a success of it. Unfortunately, cleanliness is not something about which we can say that well begun is half done. Modi who has shown a single-minded tenacity regarding the fulfillment of his Prime Minister dream the Swachh Bharat dream needs the same commitment and much more.