IZZAT IS A WORD THAT IS AT THE CORE OF INDIAN society. The poorer you were, the more precious the concept of izzat, or self-respect and dignity, became. It acquired dimensions that went way beyond its mere translation and struck a receptive and very human chord in Indians. With the advent of Modi on the national scene and his transformation of the welfare state as one that instilled dignity in the individual rather than patronisingly throwing crumbs at him and seeing him as a burden on the nation, in village after village, the izzat ghar came to symbolise an essential concomitant of modern existence, even in the poorest households in dusty, far-off hamlets. The phrase izzat ghar was not coined by the government. It emerged in villages after schoolgirls began painting the words on the walls of toilets in Uttar Pradesh. The izzat ghar, which became part of the mainstream discourse across India as part of Modi's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, instantly conjured up images of revolutionary changes in the psyche and self-respect of women. Today, 10 crore toilets have been built under the Abhiyan across India. The steps taken by Modi appeared small but they were huge in terms of imagination and what they achieved. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was derided by critics as a gimmick. Even neutral observers believed that it would be an exercise in futility that would be overpowered by poverty and a sore lack of health and hygiene awareness—and by the humongous nature of the task at hand. Modi was determined to make it work, even hand-picking tried and trusted technocrats to make the programme a household name in India in a timebound manner. Even when the results started coming in and figures confirmed that the Abhiyan was a major success, people were not ready to believe that the claims were true. But they were all proven wrong. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is now a central part of the political discourse. It has turned out to be a yardstick, a key criterion on which Indian society is today judged. What the Abhiyan has achieved socio-culturally was unimaginable.

Balakot

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