Modi issues 'Clean India' challenge, targets celebrities for viral campaign

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is known for being tech-savvy, on Thursday called upon nine personalities to clean their surroundings and in turn challenge nine others to do the same, hoping to mirror a trend reminiscent of the Ice Bucket Challenge phenomenon. 

 

The ‘challenge’, as it were, came at the fag end of Modis’ speech at the launch of the ‘Swachh Bharat' (Clean India) campaign.

 

The prime minister nominated Bollywood actors Salman Khan, Kamal Hassan and Priyanka Chopra, arguably intending to use their 'star power' and reach to attract more attention to the campaign. He also nominated cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar, yoga guru Baba Ramdev, Goa governor Mridula Sinha, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and the entire cast of the popular Indian comedy show 'Tarak Mehta Ka Ulta Chashma'. 

Priayanka Chopra and Sachin Tendulkar quickly replied to the challenge and applealed to carry the message forward. 

 

Post by Sachin Tendulkar.

 

Post by Sachin Tendulkar.

Actor Aamir Khan, who has 8.63 million Twitter fans, joined Modi on stage to show his support for the cause. By adding celebrities to his list of supporters for the cause, the PM is delegating some of the heavy lifting so that the campaign can gain momentum. 

Given his cleverly chosen nominees, the PM’s appeal and fierce online social media campaign has the potential to go viral. 

 

The numbers that some of the nominees command is formidable: Salman Khan has 8.4 million followers on Twitter, Priyanka Chopra has 7.12 million, Baba Ramdev has 1.9 lac followers, while Shashi Tharoor is followed by a humongous 2.3 million people.

 

Each nominee has to invite nine other people to take up Modi’s pledge, and each of those has to invite nine others, creating a viral pyramid of contributors to the effort.

 

Modi on Thursday launched the 'Swachh Bharat' (Clean India) campaign at Valmiki Basti, home to a large section of Dalit population, in New Delhi by sweeping the street and ordering other government officials to do the same.

 

The prime minister is widely known for his use of social media as a tool to reach out to masses, something that worked brilliantly for him during the general election of 2014 as well. He has even used social media as a direct communication tool with the people, largely eschewing traditional media such as print and television.

 

“I have decided to start a cleanliness campaign on social media. I have launched the #MyCleanIndia campaign on Twitter” the Prime Minister told the crowd at his speech earlier today.

 

Depending on the potential of viral trends has become 'the' thing to do in recent times, both evidenced and copied by the Ice bucket challenge to its Indian version, the Rice Bucket challenge, Even Bollywood has jumped on to the bandwagon, with Hrithik Roshan's trying to promote his upcoming movie through an online challenge to industry colleagues.