'Swachh Bharat mission is revolution'

New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday linked the Swachh Bharat Mission with spiritual, social cleansing and reawakening saying this was the core spirit of the independence struggle as well.

The President while speaking at the Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention in the Capital said Swachh Bharat Mission was not only about the physical cleaning and that the drive had already become not just a mass movement but a revolution. “The Mission has become a revolution playing out in real time and had become an instrument of mass mobilisation. It is now a  people’s movement and a national goal with total commitment from the people as it represents the spirit of our independence movement. There is both domestic and international participation now in this mass movement in keeping with the traditions and teachings of Gandhiji,’’ he added.

While talking about the results of the Swachh Bharat Mission the President said at the launch of the Mission in 2014 the sanitation coverage in the country was only 39 per cent where as now it had reached almost 95 per cent. “With India striving to eliminate open defecation in its entirety by October 2, 2019 is the best birthday gift we can give to Gandhiji,” the President said.