Make Swachh Bharat all inclusive, Modiji

Perception is the driving force of politics. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has mastered the art of creating one that he is the panacea of all ailments India faces. In turn, we have suspended our questioning abilities and left it to him to provide answers for everything - from governance to moral education.

With Swachh Bharat Abhiyan having stirred the nation from its deep slumber of making India clean, as media reports it, we have suddenly started realising how important it is to keep ourselves clean. It could well become a national obsession, if only.

It would have be greater, dear prime minister, had you started the campaign from Citizen Nagar or nooks of Piplaj in Ahmedabad instead, where 2002 Gujarat riots victims and people displaced from Sabarmati riverfront are residing in an extremely unhygienic and toxic atmosphere. Sweeping Delhi streets is mere tokenism as the national capital's streets are pretty well-maintained as compared to other parts of India.

Perhaps you forgot looking at the squalor of your own backyard. Read just how dirty Citizen Nagar and Piplaj are: Check it here.

With Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit, Ahmedabad seems to have become a power capital, while Citizen Nagar continues to remain a blot, where certain people struggle to live everyday and the area thrives as a dumping ground of all garbage.

Senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai on April 3, 2013 wrote about Citizen Nagar in a national daily. "Why doesn't he [Modi] take a short trip to Citizen Nagar, a Muslim basti on the edges of Ahmedabad where hundreds of riot-affected refugees live in near sub-human conditions next to a large garbage dump. If he can truly rehabilitate them and make them feel a part of 'Vibrant Gujarat', he will have won their hearts. And possibly the mind of the average Indian Muslim."  Read more here.

Sadly, as the chief minister of the state Narendra Modi, you have never once visited the area.

As part of a tribute to Bapu, on his birth anniversary, you the prime minister, could have called for cleaning of riot affected areas in Gujarat to make the drive all inclusive. Your seriousness to make India Swachh now appears a mere PR stunt.