Kanchan Gupta
The politics of cynicism practised by those who have ruled – as opposed to governed – India for more than six decades has made us, the citizens of this caricature of a republic, cynics who instinctively doubt the best of intentions of those who would like to put us back on the path that we were meant to tread but were misled from by self-seeking, self-aggrandising politicians. It is, therefore, not surprising that a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his ambitious Swachch Bharat Abhiyan, or Clean India Mission, there are many who continue to scoff at the initiative.
The scepticism may not be entirely misplaced. When a senior member of Modi’s party is found sweeping the pavement outside India Islamic Centre in Delhi where garbage had been dumped by municipality employees to create the perfect mess for him to clean up in front of television crews, applause is the last thing that comes to mind. Nor does the lethargic non-response of municipalities where the BJP is in power despite the Prime Minister’s clarion call inspire either enthusiasm or confidence.
The best example to underscore this point is the very visible absence of Municipal Corporation Councillors and officials in Delhi. If large parts of the country’s capital city, on which limitless resources are squandered every year, can appear like a sprawling garbage dump, then the urban squalor elsewhere does not beggar the imagination. It gets bleaker and more grim as we descend the ladder marking the hierarchies of cities; those at the bottom rung are no more than glorified slums.
Yet, it would be self-defeating to allow ourselves to be distracted by politicians and their flatterers trying to make political capital out of what was intended to be, and remains, a noble initiative. The Prime Minister was not looking at photo ops on the Birth Anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi when, broom in hand, he set out to inaugurate the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan. He would have been photographed garlanding Gandhi’s statue at Parliament House or attending the prayer service at Rajghat or performing any of the rituals that politicians perform on Gandhi Jayanti. The coverage would have been no different.
He chose to do something different. He put into deed words that we have often heard, words that had begun to sound like the rest of the clichés that constitute political and public discourse in this country. That initiative of his has had an electrifying impact at two levels.
First, cleanliness and hygiene, both linked to ‘swachchata’, are being discussed with the seriousness they deserve and have been elevated to the editorial and opeditorial pages of newspapers. Television channels, of course, continue to expend their energy and resources on frivolities and trivia. We need not bother about them. Till now, swachchata was treated as no more than a municipality issue and rarely, if ever, found mention in mainstream public and media discourse.
Second, ‘Young India’, the generation that aspires for a better life and refuses to remain prisoner to the status quoism of the Ancien Régime, has taken the Prime Minister’s initiative as a personal call to arms. Inspired young men and women, not all of them adults, many in their early teens, are now volunteering time to clean the immediate premises of their homes or gated housing colonies. True, it remains to be seen how long the enthusiasm lasts, but if there is sufficient encouragement then it is unlikely to flag. That encouragement has to come from role models (writers, teachers, actors, musicians, sportspersons), family elders and community leaders.
The Prime Minister has been inviting well-known personalities to join the mission as brand ambassadors and lead from the front. By itself this is not sufficient. We need religious leaders, social activists and family elders to step forward and contribute their mite. In a deeply religious country like ours, the role of religious leaders in making Swachch Bharat Abhiyan a success cannot be overstated. The secular state, or what remains of it after being mercilessly mauled by the Congress all these decades, must not be seen to be reaching out to them. They should come forward on their own; if they don’t, communities must poke them into action.
All this and more does not, in any manner, diminish the primary task of our municipal corporations, municipalities and panchayats. They have to cease to be job-generators and dens of corruption and vice. For this, twin action is called for. Existing laws have to be redrafted holding elected members and officials responsible for failures and accountable to taxpayers. Incentives do not work in India; disincentives do.