Brooms before bouquets: Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari at a ‘Swachhata Se Swagat’ drive in Kolkata
NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi’s visits to states are increasingly being preceded by organised cleanliness drives under the ‘Swachhata Se Swagat’ banner, giving new vigour to a campaign he has long championed.Across BJP-governed states, administrations and party units are converting the familiar pre-VVIP spruce-up into a public campaign. CMs, ministers, lawmakers, civic workers and residents are being mobilised to sweep roads, clear markets and clean ghats and other public spaces before Modi arrives – giving the political welcome a ‘Swachh Bharat’ imprint.The latest rollout is in Haryana, where CM Nayab Saini has launched a statewide drive ahead of Modi’s July 17 visit to Jind. Saini began the exercise in Panchkula by sweeping a market and planting a sapling. Ministers, MPs, MLAs and local representatives have been asked to lead similar drives across districts until the PM’s arrival.The campaign also dovetails with the purpose of Modi’s visit. He is scheduled to flag off India’s first hydrogen-powered passenger train on the Jind-Sonipat route and launch development projects, allowing the state to link the welcome with cleanliness, citizen participation and green mobility. The template gathered visibility during Modi’s June visits to Odisha and WB. Odisha organised cleanliness activities under the slogan before his June 20 programme. Kolkata followed with a six-day operation across all 144 municipal wards and 16 boroughs, involving residents and civic personnel. CM Suvendu Adhikari and other public representatives also joined the exercise at public spaces.Videos of a passenger train running between Madurai and Rameswaram recently went viral after a traveller showed its coach, washrooms and floor remaining remarkably clean even after a 170 km journey. That episode provides an instructive counterpoint to the political campaign.’Swachhata Se Swagat’ can generate attention, marshal administrative resources and place senior netas behind brooms. Its real success, however, will be measured after the cavalcade leaves – by whether the clean roads, stations and public spaces remain that way.
