We voted for him and expected him to leave us in peace for next 5 years. Isn’t that the way things have been done since my grandfather started voting?

But the new PM is refusing to let us hibernate even though a good half year has passed since we voted him to office. With his “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan”, Mr. Narendra Modi has us, our conscience and our imagination; all in his tight grasp.

If my memory serves correct (without overly relying on trusted search engines; so that I can speak from my heart) it is the first time in the history of independent India when the reigning government is seeking active participation of aam aadmi to successfully achieve a goal. The precedent has been that the government ideates, advertises, implements and executes all and any – big or sundry projects, schemes, yojnas, abhiyans, programmes. People in general have not been made a stakeholder in projects in any way other than as a beneficiary; then too only a minor one who is always at the mercy of officials.singa

For the first time the onus of success has been laid on our shoulders. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan exhorts us – “We, the people”, to break out of our eternal “Kumbhakaransque slumber” and be a part of nation building. For nations cannot be built by a person or party alone. It’s the aam aadmis’ real and active actions that build a nation. That’s exactly how we got independence. Remember “Non-cooperation Movement”” and “Quit India”. Just as these two, a successful Clean India movement is beneficial to each and every one of us. For once the PM and his party do not have a self-serving political agenda in asking the people to join hands towards a common cause. I aim to rise up to the challenge and be counted amongst the “We”.

Mr. Modi has shown us the way how to involve people and how to make sure that they keep being involved and how to keep the hysteria alive too. The PM wielding a broom makes for an awesome photo-op and copy for a day’s news.

And his actions followed up with similar actions by a sportsperson here, an industrialist there, a sprinkle of Bollywood celebrities, cast of a popular tele-serial, few politicians are keeping the mass media interested enough to keep getting their regular photo-op and enough catalyst to keep the twitteratti twittering and the chatteratti chatting. If at the end
of each photo-op a bit of India is left clean, the day’s work is done.

If all the branding and advertising with cleanliness as their taglines pushes us to step out of our personal clean havens (read Homes) and ‘unlitter’ one pavement, the day’s work is done.
All the twittering and chatting should eventually translate into a Domino effect and push the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to all corners of the country to clean up India bit by bit, road by road, area by area and change our mind-set person by person.

For now a whole gamut of entities from corporates to brands, from individuals to groups are adopting the Swachh mantra. And how to make it everlasting? Well! I am no celebrity so I won’t wait for an invitation.I am grabbing my broom and heading out to make my bit of India clean!