Make cleanliness a mass movement: Mahajan to MLAs
SWACHH UP Referring to ‘cleanest city’ tag for Indore, LS Speaker asks MLAs to form teams of reliable workers
The ‘cleanest city’ tag for Indore in the union urban development ministry’s cleanliness survey found a special mention in the address of Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan during the orientation programme for new MLAs here on Thursday.
During her valedictory address, Mahajan, who represents Indore Lok Sabha seat, informed the legislators how cleanliness drive turned into a public movement in her constituency.
She said the MLAs should form good teams of reliable workers and take the people of their constituencies along. “Your time starts now (after the orientation programme),” she said.
Referring to Prime Minister’s Swachh Bharat campaign launched on October 2, 2014, Mahajan said: “I have received this information (of Indore topping the survey) today. I am getting telephone calls and people are telling me ‘hamara’ (our) Indore has been declared the cleanest city. What we had started went on to become a ‘jan jagran’ (public campaign).”
Mahajan quoted Mahatma Gandhi to make her point that people were the real guides for public representatives and leaders should not develop a false impression that they were guiding the masses.
Going down the memory lane, she recalled the time when she was elected BJP MP from Indore for the first time in 1989. She said a party leader helped her when she was preparing to make her first address in Lok Sabha.
Mahajan said partymen also had aspirations and were responsible for the victory of public representatives. “The leaders should learn the art of saying ‘no’ instead of making false promises to the people. Don’t ever make promises that cannot be fulfilled,” she said.
“People are often reluctant to approach me as they know I will not make any recommendation that is unjustified. The members should work as policy makers instead of putting up demands before the government,” she said.
“The members should raise their voice strongly if the government is at fault on any issue,” she said.
Drawing a parallel between Lok Sabha and UP Vidhan Sabha, she said the state assembly had 238 new members and more than half of them were young. She called chief minister Yogi Adityanath a ‘Yoddha Sanyasi’ (warrior saint) and said he was committed to working for the welfare of the people.
Yogi also lauded Mahajan for the work she has done as Lok Sabha speaker and said she took special interest in encouraging new members in the house.
“No one can question her impartiality. There should not be any contradiction in the functioning of legislative bodies and the assembly should also work if Lok Sabha can work till late in the night,” he said.