Modi goes plogging at Mamallapuram beach, picks up garbage

Love him or hate him, but even his worst critic would admit Prime Minister Narendra Modi sure knows how to make the best use of time to get any message across.

On Saturday morning, shortly before the 'operative' part of his informal summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping was to begin, Modi took a stroll on the Mamallapuram beach. And like all things related to Modi, it was not a mere stroll; the prime minister was 'plogging', that is, jogging and picking up plastic waste.

Modi tweeted a video of him picking up waste material. By social media standards, the video was long at three minutes and showed Modi carrying a large transparent bag to carry waste. By the time the video ended, Modi seemed to have picked up enough waste to nearly fill the bag, which he actually carried on his back before handing it over to an aide.

Modi wrote, “Plogging at a beach in Mamallapuram this morning. It lasted for over 30 minutes. Also handed over my ‘collection’ to Jeyaraj, who is a part of the hotel staff. Let us ensure our public places are clean and tidy! Let us also ensure we remain fit and healthy.”

Plogging began in Sweden in 2016 as a form of 'environmentally conscious exercise'. And you can trust Modi to embrace a new trending. Mamallapuram was not the first time Modi promoted plogging. Modi had recently called on citizens to join the 'Fit India Plogging Run' on October 2 to combat use of plastics.

As part of his messaging on the need to eliminate single-use plastics, Modi sat with a group of ragpickers in Mathura and helped them as they were segregating waste in September.