Bachchan, Tendulkar feature in Swachh Bharat video

In a move aimed at sensitising common masses about Swachh Bharat Mission, the Centre on Monday launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan featuring Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan and cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar. Union Minister of Drinking Water and Sanitation Narendra Singh Tomar launched a video against open defecation, featuring both the stars.

The video, launched as part of Centre’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, showed Bachchan, who has been one of the most vocal brand ambassador of the government’s initiative, asking people to join the movement. In the video, the Bollywood actor says that villagers in India must know by now that by following the practice of open defecation, they are putting their loved ones in dangers of health risks and being exposed in front of strangers.

Bachchan goes on to say that there are more than 70,000 villagers in India who have completely abolished the practice of open defecation. He says that all village folks, including women and children, got together to ensure that such practices are stopped.

Monitoring committees were formed in villages which informed people about the harms of open defecation, built washrooms in places where they were absent, and showed villagers how to use it, Bachchan adds in the video. He ends the message with a question to the viewers. “Will your village become free from open-defecation?” he asks.

While Sachin is seen saying, “You have to stand with me and join me in this mission. Together we can build an India where everyone uses toilets.”

The campaigns will be launched on television besides hitting online platforms. It will also be translated into other regional languages.