At a time when the Chief Minister Manohar Lal and his cabinet colleagues are boasting about phenomenal success of Swachhta Abhiyan in the state, Haryana Congress has begun “selfie with garbage” campaign to embarrass the ruling BJP over the sanitation issue.
Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar has launched the “selfie with garbage” campaign with a dual aim of attacking the Haryana Government on sanitation issue and force the local administration to remove heaps of garbage after its pictures are posted on social media.
After the launch of this campaign, Congress workers from across the state are clicking pictures with heaps of garbage lying in their area and posting it while tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Manohar Lal on Twitter.
Notably, sanitation will be a key issue when the five municipal corporations and two municipal committees in Haryana go to polls on December 16.
While the Congress is yet to announce to contest these polls on its symbol, the party has made it clear that it will raise the issue of sanitation during polls to secure the vote bank among the urban masses in the state.
To make the “selfie with garbage” campaign a success, directions have been given to the party workers to click pictures and post it on social media besides apprizing the general public to join the campaign.
With this campaign, the Congress is also targeting the ruling BJP over the issue of cow protection and posting pictures of stray cows feasting on garbage dumped at various locations across Haryana.
“Swachhta campaign has failed to yield positive results in Haryana due to the apathy of State Government. We will expose the government’s nonchalant attitude towards sanitation through the selfie with garbage campaign,” said Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar while talking to The Pioneer.
He said that even as the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues make big claims on success of cleanliness campaign, the garbage continues to pile up at various locations in the state. The State Government has miserably failed to ensure cleanliness even after more than four years to the launch of its much-publicized Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Tanwar said.
Attacking the BJP on the issue of cow protection, the Congress leader said that the BJP claims of taking steps for the welfare of stray cattle. But, the reality is that garbage grounds across the state are becoming detrimental for the health of stray cattle, who feeds on these garbage heaps.
The #Selfiewithgarbage hashtag on Twitter features a large number of people photographed near garbage piles in Haryana, Tanwar added.
Ironically, Haryana had recently bagged the number-one state award for its outstanding achievements in the field of sanitation and cleanliness under Swachh Survekshan Grameen-2018.
In line with Centre’s project ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’, Haryana Government had launched ‘Swachh Haryana, Swachh Bharat’ campaign in the year 2014 to achieve total sanitation by October 2, 2019.
The Congress leader further said that the party will also raise the issue of sanitation during the polls to be held on December 16 to five municipal corporations and two municipal committees.
The general elections of seats of mayor and members of all wards of five Municipal Corporations including Hisar, Rohtak, Yamunanagar, Panipat and Karnal and of two Municipal committees including Jakhal Mandi (Fatehabad) and Pundri (Kaithal) would be held on December 16. The results will be announced on December 19.