On Mahatma Gandhi's 150th, here's Rajnath Singh's 'cleanliness oath'

The Union Minister of Defence, Rajnath Singh, administered a cleanliness oath to people at an event organised in Delhi Cantonment on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on Wednesday. In the oath, they pledged to spread the message of Swachh Bharat Mission and urged people to clean every village and street. Earlier in the day the defence minister also remembered Mahatma Gandhi for successfully shaping the destiny of India. He also paid his tribute to Mahatma Gandhi over Twitter in the morning.  

The Cleanliness Oath 

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh read the oath by saying, "I will neither pollute the environment nor let anyone do that. I will spread the message of Swachh Bharat Mission to every corner of every village and street. I will administer this oath to 100 people. The step taken by me towards cleanliness will keep my surroundings clean, that would help to maintain India clean".  

Read: Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary: Leaders Pay Tribute

Tributes paid to Mahatma Gandhi 

President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also paid homage to the Father of the Nation. Other leaders including Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani also reached Rajghat to pay respects to Gandhi. Both Congress and BJP are organising a number of events throughout the country to mark Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary. Home Minister Amit Shah also spoke at the commencement of the extension of 'Gandhi Sankalp Yatra' on Gandhi Jayanti.

Read: PM Modi first to uphold Mahatma Gandhi's cleanliness principle: Shah

Amit Shah on cleanliness at ‘Gandhi Sankalp Yatra’ 

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has extended its Gandhi Sankalp Yatra by a period of three months. As per the circular sent to the leaders, the Yatra will now be a 120-day exercise and will culminate on January 31, 2020.  Amit Shah talking about PM Modi’s efforts to follow Gandhian principles in spreading the message of cleanliness said, “Narendra Modi Ji, while he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat and while he is the Prime Minister of India, has always upheld the significance of Gandhian principles. Gandhi Ji was always in the lead when it came to cleanliness. There would have been hardly any Prime Ministers in the past who made cleanliness a mass movement. But our Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned the cause of cleanliness into a mass movement. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the one who enabled all the houses in India to have a toilet and he was the one who imbibed the importance of a clean India in the minds of the small children.” 

Read: PM Modi pays homage to Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri on Oct 2

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