Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi converted his Swachh Bharat campaign into a ‘Clean Ganga’ mission on Saturday when he picked up a shovel to clean the Assi Ghat in his constituency Varanasi.
The Prime Minister also nominated nine people, including UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, to take the cleanliness drive forward.
The Prime Minister told reporters, “When I launched the drive, I had nominated nine people. Today I am taking it forward by nominating nine people, namely UP CM Akhilesh Yadav, Chancellor of Chitrakoot Handicapped University Swami Ram Bhadracharya, Bhojpuri actor Manoj Tiwari, writer Manu Sharma, cricketers Mohammed Kaif and Suresh Raina, Padma Shri Prof. Devi Prasad Dwivedi, television actor and comedian Raju Srivastava and singer Kailash Kher.”
In Lucknow, the UP CM chose to walk away when reporters asked him about his reaction to his nomination by the PM for the Swachh Bharat campaign.
Other nominees like cricketer Suresh Raina, singer Kailash Kher and comedian Raju Srivastava tweeted that they were honoured to be nominated by the PM.
Meanwhile, Mr Modi, on the second day of his visit to his constituency Varanasi, reached the Assi Ghat in the morning, offered prayers and then took up the shovel to remove the silt collected on the banks of the river.
He dug out the silt for about 15 minutes as flashbulbs popped furiously around and hundreds converged to see the PM cleaning the ghat.
He later told reporters that some local NGOs had assured him that the work he had started on Saturday would be completed within a month.
The Prime Minister said that his government will prioritise cleaning of the Ganga, which is full of garbage and sewage and industrial effluent.
