Height of Swachh Bharat hype! Can’t beat Jammu

Tribune News Service

Jammu, August 4

At a time when resentment against BJP leaders is growing among people for their failure to improve urban infrastructure and sanitation under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, people are surprised as local markets are flooded with kites with images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi promoting the SBA.

These messages on kites are not sponsored by the government. Private kite makers who are traditionally associated with the trade and some party workers are actively promoting these among the people.

However, shoppers are raising questions as to why BJP MLAs and ministers, who are a part of the PDP-BJP coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir and control civic bodies, have failed to deliver.

“The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is a complete failure in the city. These kites spreading the message will not change the situation on the ground,” said Rakesh Gupta, a resident of Kachi Chawni.

The ritual of kite flying during Raksha Bandhan and Janmashtami is a tradition followed by people. It is the first time that kites are being used to promote government schemes.

Meanwhile, kite-sellers are doing brisk business as they have received orders worth lakhs. For over a month, ‘dor’ makers, preparing special threads for kite flying, had set up their makeshift shops and were doing brisk business.

‘Dor’ was being made by the roadside or in parks. Thousands of metres of cotton thread was painstakingly made over many weeks to ensure it could cut the strings of other kites.