"Gandhi was appalled by the country he'd later get credit for liberating. It was the social oppression of India and its filth - the sight of people blithely squatting in public places to move their bowels and then, just as blithely, leaving their turds behind for human scavengers to remove - that accounted for the Mahatma-to-be's reforming zeal" (p.29)
This was after his return from South Africa in 1915. The governments which came after him, after independence, didn't find the issue worthwhile to embrace. The country made progress economically, but the bane of filth continued - until another popular leader found the problem unbearable and unbecoming of a fast modernising nation.
Then came Swachh Bharat and the rest is history.
