Bittu Tabahi, a 21-year-old student, has responded to accusations that Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav was attempting to claim credit for his extensive efforts in cleaning the polluted Ajnar river. Bittu gained widespread recognition for his solo initiative to manually clear pollution from the river in Biora, an effort that drew national and international attention. Following his viral popularity, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav met with Bittu, praising his work and aligning it with the state's conservation campaigns to encourage public participation. YouTuber Dhruv Rathee criticized this meeting, suggesting it was a PR move by the government, but Bittu clarified that his intention was to inspire civic responsibility and promote cleanliness, not to engage in political discourse. His dedication to the clean-up, despite personal risks, has led to municipal support and even an employment offer from The Ocean Cleanup, highlighting the impact of individual environmental activism.

Bittu Tabahi, a 21-year-old student, has responded to accusations that Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav was attempting to claim credit for his extensive efforts in cleaning the polluted Ajnar river. Bittu gained widespread recognition for his solo initiative to manually clear pollution from the river in Biora, an effort that drew national and international attention. Following his viral popularity, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav met with Bittu, praising his work and aligning it with the state's conservation campaigns to encourage public participation. YouTuber Dhruv Rathee criticized this meeting, suggesting it was a PR move by the government, but Bittu clarified that his intention was to inspire civic responsibility and promote cleanliness, not to engage in political discourse. His dedication to the clean-up, despite personal risks, has led to municipal support and even an employment offer from The Ocean Cleanup, highlighting the impact of individual environmental activism.

Bittu Tabahi, a 21-year-old student, has responded to accusations that Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav was attempting to claim credit for his extensive efforts in cleaning the polluted Ajnar river. Bittu gained widespread recognition for his solo initiative to manually clear pollution from the river in Biora, an effort that drew national and international attention. Following his viral popularity, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav met with Bittu, praising his work and aligning it with the state's conservation campaigns to encourage public participation. YouTuber Dhruv Rathee criticized this meeting, suggesting it was a PR move by the government, but Bittu clarified that his intention was to inspire civic responsibility and promote cleanliness, not to engage in political discourse. His dedication to the clean-up, despite personal risks, has led to municipal support and even an employment offer from The Ocean Cleanup, highlighting the impact of individual environmental activism.

Bittu Tabahi, whose real name is Surendra Singh Choudhary, responded to a comment by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, who accused the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav of trying to take credit for the 21-year-old’s work cleaning a polluted river,

The Madhya Pradesh student gained popularity online after he continued his efforts to clean the Ajnar river in Biora by hand. His efforts even gained international attention.

Bittu Tabahi began cleaning the heavily polluted river on January 26 with just a shovel. He then shared photographs of the river's condition before and after the clean-up.

On Saturday, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav met the 21-year-old at his residence in Bhopal, who lauded his efforts.

A video of the interaction was shared on the CM’s social media with the caption: “Your initiative puts a big question before us: how beautiful and vibrant we can all make our water resources when a young man alone can pledge to save the river.

This is also the basic value of the Madhya Pradesh government's 'Jal Ganga Conservation Campaign' - conservation of water resources, their revival and public participation. This initiative of yours is a powerful example of this feeling.

Now this beginning of Ajnar is not just the campaign of @bittu_tabahi but the identity of the resolution of every youth of Byawra and Madhya Pradesh. Let's save water together, save rivers and make tomorrow for generations to come.”

YouTuber Dhruv Rathee took to the video’s comment section to criticise the government and the CM. He accused the government of trying to steal credit for the work done by the 20-year-old.

The comment in Hindi roughly translates to: “They have come to take credit. One boy did all the work, and when he went viral, they called him for a photoshoot. And look at the audacity, what are they making him say? ‘The government is already doing its work.’ What is the government doing? Nothing, just PR.”

Bittu Tabahi responded to Rathee in the comments, saying that the interaction was to inspire civic duty rather than to core political points.  “Dhruv Bhaiya, this is not about taking credit. The government has appreciated my work earlier as well. The issue here is civic sense. I only want people to understand their responsibility and come forward for cleanliness, just as I did, ” he said,

Chaudhay had continued cleaning parts of the river despite struggling with health risks and encountering snakes, ANI reported.

He also reported suffering from a limb infection while carrying out a clean-up near a local temple.

After his efforts went viral on multiple social media platforms, the local municipality deployed heavy machinery to assist the clean-up.

Biaora Municipal Corporation Sub-Engineer Rupesh Kumar Netam said, “There is a young man named Surendra Singh Chaudhary who regularly cleans the Ajnar River in Biaora; the municipality also provides him with support in this effort.”

Bittu’s efforts also garnered international attention .

The CEO and founder of Netherlands-based non-profit The Ocean Cleanup, Boyan Slat, offered Bittu a job after seeing a video of his efforts.

An X user shared that Slat responded to the picture of the before-and-after of the river, saying, “Come work for us.”

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