Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday gave a clarion call for cleaning the country and its administration. Modi announced that he will lead the Clean India initiative on October 2 by taking up the broom himself.

At a felicitation function organised by the State BJP soon after his arrival at the HAL airport in Bangalore, Modi said the present administrative system was in a mess and he has instructed all ministries to take up a “cleanliness drive”.

The drive would be launched on September 25, the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadyaya, the ideologue of erstwhile Jan Sangh and go on till October 10.

“We have been in government for a very short time. As we move into a new house, the first thing we do is cleaning. First, the public did the cleaning. Now, we are doing it,” he said.

Modi said his government has decided to repeal redundant laws to give the nation a direction and speed to administration. “There is a jungle of laws out there.

Earlier governments took pride in making laws, but they have become a hurdle in decision-making and governance. We have five to 10 laws on one subject. A special committee has been constituted to look into the issue,” he said. 

Later in his speech, Modi spoke about another type of cleaning: To rid the neighbourhoods of the garbage. He said a Clean India campaign will be launched on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, and he himself will use the broom on that day. 

“Cleaning will be the biggest service one can render to mother India. Like the way we clean our houses for welcoming guests, we have to clean the country to welcome the guest of prosperity into the country,” he stated.

He urged people to dedicate 100 hours a year (two hours a week) to spread the message of keeping India clean. “I beg people to give me 100 hours a year.

If 125 crore Indians decide to clean the country, no force in the world can dirty our place,” he said. His message comes in the backdrop of Bangalore’s back-to-back garbage crises in the last two years.