PM Modi takes up cleanliness campaign in Varanasi ghats

Varanasi:  Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday took his cleanliness drive to the ghats of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. He cleaned an area on the banks of river Ganga as a part of the Nirmal Ganga Mission.

Modi arrived at the Assi Ghat here around 8.40 a.m. amid tight security arrangements. He prayed at the ghat and after a 'Ganga Pujan' and amid chanting of hymns, the prime minister ploughed through an area and removed silt and dirt accumulated at the river bank. He was joined in by local BJP leaders.

PM also nominated nine more people, including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, crickters Suresh Raina and Mohammad Kaif, and singer Kailash Kher, to take forward the message to clean India.
He did so as he arrived at the Assi ghat here on the second day of his visit to his Varanasi parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh.
He prayed at the ghat and after a 'Ganga Pujan' and amid chanting of hymns, he ploughed an area on the river bank for around 10 minutes and removed silt and dirt accumulated there.
Local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers also joined him later.
"I have started the cleanliness drive here and the social organisations have assured me that this entire 'ghat' will be cleaned within a month," said Modi.
Modi said he had earlier nominated nine people as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, a mission he launched Oct 2 on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
On Saturday, Modi said he has nominated nine more people to take the mission to clean India forward.
The other nominees are Chancellor of Chitrakoot Specially Abled University Ram Bhadracharya, Bhojpuri singer and BJP MP Manoj Tiwari, Manu Sharma known for his 'Krishna Atma Katha', Padmashri Sanskrit scholar Devi Prasad Dwivedi and comedian Raju Srivastava.