Clean India Campaign - PM's call for a Clean India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said he had welcomed nine people to join the massive cleanliness drive that he propelled today and asked for each of them to draw nine more into the initiative to make it viral.

He additionally asked people to transfer their videos online.

There was much praise from his group of onlookers at India Gate as he named every big name. The Prime Minister has labeled in his cleanliness challenge Goa governor Mridula Sinha, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, yoga master Baba Ramdev, Congress legislator and previous union minister Shashi Tharoor, on-screen characters Kamal Haasan, Priyanka Chopra and Salman Khan, industrialist Anil Ambani and the group of well known TV serial Tarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashma.

The PM said people required to "change their mindset and join hands" to clean the country. "This is not about Modi... Modi is stand out of its 1.2 billion people... this is a people's task," he said.

The 'Swachh Bharat' or 'Clean India' battle he said was past governmental issues. "It is propelled by patriotism not governmental issues," he said, praising past governments for their exertions towards cleanliness.

"In the event that Indians can achieve Mars, they surely can clean up the country," the Prime Minister said, conceding that it was a troublesome task. (Watch PM's full discourse)

"At the same time we have five years," he said, alluding to his objective of a clean India in 2019, Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth celebration.