Big B to lead Modi govt’s ‘Darwaza Band’ campaign to discourage open defecation

Amitabh Bachchan sent out a series of tweets to support the campaign, saying diseases will disappear once every village becomes open defecation free.

Here is a new campaign to change behaviour of men defecating in open – Darwaja Band. Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan will launch the campaign from Mumbai on Tuesday to promote use of toilets. Bachchan is one of the brand ambassadors of Narendra Modi government’s ‘Swachch Bharat’ campaign.

Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan.(Yogen Shah/HT File Photo)

“Darwaja Band stands for shutting the door on open defecation,” a senior government officer involved with the programme told HT. “Other bollywood actors will also join this movement.”

Actress Anuskha Sharma is also part of the campaign and will be seen encouraging women to stand up for this issue in their villages and assume a leadership role.

Bachchan, too, sent out a series of tweets in the afternoon to support the campaign. “India has vowed to end open defection. Spread the message of cleanliness through Darwaza Band & support Swachh Bharat..I do!!” Bachchan wrote in one of the tweets. In another message in Hindi, he said diseases will disappear once every village becomes open defecation free.

“We want India to progress as also the villages! Darwaza Band is a roadmap to my clean India. Swachch Bharat,” he wrote in a separate tweet.

The initiative of the Union drinking water and sanitation ministry is supported by the World Bank, and the government plans to roll it out immediately after the launch.

A campaign will be carried out through TV, radio and print advertisements and also through short video messages that can be shared on different platforms.

“Behaviour change has been the focus of Swachh Bharat Mission, which is being pursued through a countrywide comprehensive IEC (Information-Education-Communication) programme,” a government release said.

Officials said communication campaigns have been taken up both, at the central and state levels, for promoting sustained use of toilets and for sustaining the Open Defecation Free status achieved.