PM Modi invites nine luminaries to join his 'Clean India' campaign

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday that he has invited nine people to join his "Clean India campaign, and requested each of them to draw nine more persons into the initiative to make it a phenomenon.

Addressing a gathering on Rajpath, the Prime Minister while extending his Dussehra wishes, said that this chain of invitations should continue.

Pushing the people to make use of social media, he said, "We have launched the campaign on social media. If you see any filth anywhere, upload a photo of the place. Then, clean it, and again upload a photo to show the difference."

In this regard, he announced the names of Goa Governor Mridula Sinha, Bharat Ratna Sachin Tendulkar, yoga guru Baba Ramdev, actor Kamal Haasan, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, actress Priyanka Chopra, actor Salman Khan, business honcho Anil Ambani and the team of Tarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashma.

He said there were many films made during the last fifty years which had episodes educating people about cleanliness, which he added must be encouraged even more.

On the occasion, the Prime Minister also administered a cleanliness pledge to the people. Later, he flagged off a walkathon as part of the campaign.

Earlier this morning, he visited Valmiki Basti and wielded the broom as a token gesture to mark the 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan'. The Prime Minister also visited Rajghat and Vijay Ghat to pay floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi and former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on the occasion of their 145th and 103rd birth anniversaries respectively.

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan includes sweeping, removal of garbage, debris and unauthorised encroachments from roads, markets and residential places.

The campaign is aimed at making India a clean country by 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.