Let hand-sanitisers prevail: Some protesters can inspire us to give Swachh Bharat another push

So it turns out that not everybody and their Facebook friend were delirious with joy to see Prime Minister Narendra Modi do his thing in America. A group going under the name of Alliance for Justice and Accountability (AJA) even launched a campaign against the PM’s human rights record. But perhaps the substance of the campaign was overshadowed by its style, as some 250 packages of a hand-sanitiser brand were sent to Mark Zuckerberg before the Facebook CEO met the CEO of the Republic of India. Their purpose? To remind Zuckerberg that shaking Modi’s hand would stain his own. Which may partly explain the hugs — if not the tug by which our man from Race Course Road removed our man from Menlo Park from the line of vision of a camera.

The AJA objectors showed two things that Silicon Valley celebrates, and that India is now all geared up to celebrate if, er, no one among us prickly pears minds: one, standing apart from the herd; and two, showing originality. Instead of taking the easy route of supporting or trashing the views of the non-violent AJA protesters, let us — Modi bhakts or detractors, it doesn’t matter — pick up the idea of hand-sanitisers and give the spluttering Swachh Bharat campaign another shot. Instead of wiping out the story, let sanitisers prevail across India’s households.