Today marks the 145th birthday of the Father of our Nation Mahatma Gandhi, the man who made ahimsa or nonviolence the weapon in the fight for Indian Independence and inspired leaders like Mandela and MLK in their struggles as well….

Gandhiji was a man who always urged for Cleanliness and probably that is why the new PM of India chose this day to kick off his Clean India Campaign and vows for a clean India for his 150th Birth anniversary….So here are some thoughts to ponder on this day…

1. A clean India is a very important drive because it demands people to make a big personal change in their attitude and approach to the society…
2. The religious majority in India is often worried about cleanliness and purification of the soul and other mambo-jumbo and not always about the body and the surroundings
3. More money and funds and spend on worship and religion than on immediate steps to clean places….
   There are countless festivals and ceremonies and rituals for inner purification and religious glory showcasing while dirtying the pavements and streets with leftovers is the result….
4. Areas surrounding Temples, mosques and other worship areas along with many other places are harbors of uncleaned filth because of the mass population that come to purify themselves….
5. In temples often the place where the deities are put are cleaned even with milk… but for what reason when the road leading there is dirty and teeming with disease pouring filth
6. People do not keep things clean because they want to live in dirt… many do not have an option… There is no infrastructure to properly remove dirt… including garbage cans, toilets and other necessities to facilitate a clean India
7. Even after this there need to be a self discipline because I have seen many Indian in many other countries as well, who in spite of having all infrastructure throw stuffs outside…. we all should be blamed because some things are ingrained in us and is beyond the infrastructure of lack of it…. they might not defecate but yes spitting happens…..
8. The sanitation and cleaning profession is looked very low in India and Indians should learn more to be thankful to the people who clean the filth…
9. Cleanliness days should be planned in each neighborhood… don’t wait for Gandhi to be born every year…
   There should be a day in every neighborhood to honor the sanitation worker for his contribution to clean India…..
10. Even pool in money and donate so they can have the best for their families while they help your families have the best…..
11. It is not the Government’s responsibility alone to make the country clean….. many in government will also use this as a photo-op, just like the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) drama
12. We Indians have a bad habit to jump with enthusiasm on ambitious projects that make the masses rally around…. and are prone to leaving things half done…..
13. We are masters in leaving projects halfway especially social ones when they take long time to show result
14. Clean India campaign will not happen in 5 years… accept it so take it to your mind that decide that you will need to change for life and so will your neighborhood because there are something you need not look at a national level to make a difference, start at your place, rest will fall in place….

Finally the biggest question of all… Am I perfect when I write this… ? no absolutely no…. I have some habits ingrained in me that makes me equally responsible…. to support the effort in India, I will start the change on my end as well….

At the same time I also do not want to forget a few things……

1. Gandhiji was shot by a Hindu Nationlist activist Naturam Ghodse who in his statement had told among other things that he wanted to show people that even hindu’s can be intolerant if their religious sentiments are touched
2. Modi is a great showman and has the way to market and create hype and he has done that exceptionally well…. And people have taken hype for hope till now…..
3. I heard some RSS folks say that cleanliness is part of Modi because it is an RSS trait and the fact that Modi is an out and out RSS person cleanliness comes naturally to him. For me it is hard to believe that RSS people do not litter or pee on the streets in India because of an organizational induction…
4. While many non RSS supporters want to believe Modi is doing things as th PM of India, RSS is bent on the propaganda that Modi is first an RSS guy and then the PM…..
5. And then the question…. Does the PM of my country believe that the most  ideologically correct and perfect organization is RSS…….? if yes is the answer then it should make you nervous….

Bottom line cleanliness is important, but we should ensure it does not come in the expense of India becoming a Hindu state where Hindu nationalists do moral policing and control how people should think and act if they are an Indian citizen…..

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Tags: Clean India Campaign, Gandhi Jayanthi, Gandhiji’s 150th Birthday, India, Indian Independence, Nation Mahatma Gandhi