New Delhi: A “swacch LoC” has been achieved after Indian security forces gave a befitting reply to our neighbour which is funding and abetting terror, said Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday.
“The other day you have seen what is Modi. Our neighbour is funding, aiding, abetting, training terrorists. They have been given a befitting reply by our forces. Swachh man, swachh dhan, swachh tan and now swachh border, swachh LoC has been done. Now all have to come together to take forward Swachh Bharat,” the Information and Broadcasting minister said.
The senior minister was referring to the Army’s surgical strikes across LoC in Pak occupied Kashmir (PoK) where it destroyed terror launch pads.
On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, Naidu also asked people to respond to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for a clean India and become ‘swachhagrahis’.
Lauding the Prime Minister, Naidu said Modi stands for “Mood of Developing India”.
He said Mahatama Gandhi had during the freedom movement given a call for satyagraha and those who participated became ‘satyagrahis’.
“Now the time has come, all of us taking the call of the Prime Minister should become Swacchagrahi. On the pious day of Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday today, let us all become Swacchagrahi”, Naidu, who also holds the Urban Development
portfolio said.
He said in the 21st century India had to be free from illiteracy and “Litterati” – a reference to those who throw litter in the open.
He said the Prime Minister always wanted ‘Swacch Bharat’ to become a people’s movement. The aim of the nationwide cleanliness drive was to clean up the country by 2019, the year that marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of
Gandhiji.
The senior minister was speaking at the award giving ceremony of a ‘Swachh’ film competition, where Minister of State for I&B Rajyavardhan Rathore was also present.
While lauding the creativity of those who participated in the short film competition, Naidu said eminent filmmakers – Madhur Bhandarkar, Radhakrishna Jagarlamudi, Prasoon Pandey, Ramesh Sippy and Shoojit Sircar will also produce films on Swachh Bharat. Naidu said efforts will be made to exhibit these films widely.
One of the judges for the short film festival for which over 4000 entries were received, Vani Tripathi Tikoo said the quality of films had surpassed the expectations of the jury and requested that they be shown widely.
Naidu also said that cinema is a great medium of communication.
“Its a great communicator, great creator, great motivator. Sometimes its a great destroyer also. If you give a proper message, it gets registered in the minds of people,” he said.
Naidu along with Rathore also released a book published by Publications Division and authored by noted Gandhian Sudarshan Iyengar – ‘In the Footsteps of Mahatma: Gandhi and Sanitation’.
He also released the e-version of other classic books on Mahatma Gandhi, and an online purchase facility for its books. About 25 e-books on Gandhij are being made available today for online sale through e-commerce platforms.
PTI