No toilet, no Nikah, say two Firozabad girls

Agra: Jeenat and Kajal of Aamor village in Madanpur block of Firozabad district could well be the new poster girls for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat campaign as they have refused to have the ‘nikah’ ceremony with their fiances till their families construct toilets in their homes.

Engaged to two brothers, the girls, who have only studied till the 5th class, have asked their prospective in-laws to construct toilets in their home before the date of ‘nikah’ on May 9 or else find some other brides for their boys. Their threat seems to have worked, as their prospective in-laws have promised to meet their demand before the scheduled date and also send them photographs of their newly constructed toilet as a proof.

Admitting that they had been inspired by Modi’s campaign against open defecation, the girl’s have been using a toilet in their home for the past two years. Their mother, Hameedan, who is illiterate, said when they discovered that the boys, Ali and Asis, do not have toilets in their home, they asked their parents to construct the same before the marriage.

Talking to Times of India, Hameedan said open defecation is not only unhealthy but also risky for her daughters, “My daughters have taken the right decision and luckily the boys family has been very understanding and have promised to meet their demand before the date of nikah”, she said.

Kajal who is younger to Jeenat, admitted that the recent campaign against open defecation had an impact on both of them. “We have been using toilet in our home and the very thought of not having one after marriage was not acceptable”, she said.

Punit Nigam, district coordinator of the Swachh Bharat program, said young Muslim girls in particular have been very receptive to the campaign. “They are the ones who forced their families and even their in-laws to get toilets constructed in their homes”, he said.

He said there are 570 gram panchayats in Firozabad district and in first phase, their target is to make 135 of them open defecation free (ODF). He however, admitted that they were running behind the scheduled deadline of March 31 and attributed the delay to it panchayat elections and transfers of senior officials. “So far, 35 gram panchayats have been made ODF and 10 villages will be declared ODC on May 6 by chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav”, he said.