On the afternoon of May 30, Temsutula Imsong was in for a surprise. The cleanliness activist — she shot to fame in 2015 after the Prime Minister tweeted about her organisation Sakaar’s efforts in cleaning up Varanasi’s ghats — received a card, embossed with the state emblem of India. It requested her presence for the new government’s swearing-in ceremony that evening.
“Good wishes work, I’m a living example of this fact. A village girl from Nagaland gets to attend Prime Minister @narendramodi jis Oath taking ceremony at @rashtrapatibhvn,” she shared on social media, two days later, to her 25.8k Twitter, 3000 Facebook, and 772 Instagram followers. “Same with so many others who couldn’t have even dreamt about attending the #SwearingInCeremony,” she added, referring to the sheer scale of the event.
There were close to 8,000 invitees, all seated in the Rashtrapati Bhavan’s sprawling forecourt, to witness the Prime Minister and his Union Council take oath. The number this year was almost double that of the 2014 event.
As she recalls the experience days later, Imsong finds she still has to pinch herself. “I’m still so surprised. I never thought I’d ever be one of these guests,” she said over the phone, adding that she ran into various other people from Varanasi too, such as the city’s ex-Mayor. The invitees also included heads-of-state of BIMSTEC countries, as well as the families of slain political activists affiliated with the ruling party.
Imsong also tweeted out a thread with various details that made the evening come together. This included a picture of a snack coupon that came with the invite, and a picture of the food itself. “In all the enclosures, there were those industrial mist fans, because it was so hot. Also, at each seat, there were water bottles kept inside pouches by Khadi India,” she recalled.
A native of Mokokchung in Nagaland, Imsong left a teaching job in Delhi to move to Varanasi in 2013 and help her friend there set up an NGO. A boat-ride along the Ganga angered her — the deplorable condition of the ghats moved her into taking action, mobilising people to join her clean-up campaign. Her efforts coincided with Narendra Modi’s first election as the city’s MP, as well as the subsequent high-profile push for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. “The invite and being there was such a big boost, and like an encouragement for me,” she said.
Imsong’s efforts are now focussed towards solid waste management. “We all generate so much waste, and regardless of what we do, it all ends up in a landfill. We must give solutions at the individual-level only,” she says. Through outreach in schools in Varanasi, villages, and local women’s groups, she, along with volunteers, teaches home-composting and waste segretation.
To volunteer or learn more, tweet to Imsong at @temsutulaimsong, or visit Sakaar.co.in
