Congress today sounded a note of caution for the Narendra Modi Government, saying that the 'Swachh Bharat Mission' could be reduced to a mere photo opportunity if it is not implemented as a "serious, tangible and real" concept.
"Swachh Bharat is a concept, which is unexceptionable. How can you oppose something, which is axiomatically virtuous? But what matters is the implementation.
"Swachh Bharat is not going to happen because we do photo opportunities, not going to happen because once a year, ministers pick up brooms while a whole mela watches," party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said.
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Reminding that Mahatma Gandhi used to clean his toilet everyday himself and not just once a year, Singhvi said unless the Government makes it "serious, tangible and real" and makes it a "24x7 concept" by providing sewerage, sanitation, "it will remain a photo opportunity and a lot of hullabaloo and a very little substance".
Former union minister Rajiv Shukla also requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that the drive is a continuous process.
"It's not that it should be there only for one, two or three days. Apprehensions are that it may become symbolic," he said, adding that Mahatma Gandhi should be accepted in totality and not in piecemeal.
"Not that we accept certain aspects of Gandhi and defy others...," he said.
Shukla said the concept of sanitation and cleanliness is basically a programme given by the Father of the Nation, which the Congress has always been doing.
"The government and the Prime Minister himself accepted that Congress Seva Dal has always been doing this," Shukla said.
