New Delhi: The Centre on Friday crossed swords with a top UN expert after the latter’s scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet Swachh Bharat Mission which he described as lacking in “a holistic human rights approach”.
The government took strong exception to the United Nation’s Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation Leo Heller’s reference to Mahatma Gandhi’s spectacles in the SBM’s logo, and his “rambling” report containing “inaccuracies, sweeping generalisations and biases”.
Tearing into Mr Modi’s favourite initiative, Mr Heller said, “In the last two weeks I have visited rural and urban areas, slums and settlement camps where undocumented population is residing... And I have found that these initiatives lack a more human rights approach.”
Taking a strong note of his remarks on the logo of the Mission, the government issued a statement deploring that it showed “serious insensitivity towards the Father of the Nation”.
