Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: Valimikis in the national capital

Abstract

The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA) or the Clean India Campaign was launched by the Narendra Modi government in 2014. At the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission at Rajpath in New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “a clean India would be the best tribute India could pay to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150 birth anniversary in 2019”. The SBA was launched with the aim to create a mass movement across the country to make India free from garbage and filth. Well known personalities of the country also lent their support for the mission. However, this alluring project has also been subjected to criticism by various public intellectuals, civil rights activists and hostile political camps. Moreover, ruling coalition successfully defied any such criticism by framing those critics as ‘anti-Modi’ and ‘antidevelopment’ elements.