PM's Independence Day address 'full of enthusiasm', says Naqvi

Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's second Independence Day address from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort was full of enthusiasm as he gave summary of all the work that the government has done after it had come to power 15 months ago.

"Prime Minister's address at Red Fort was full of enthusiasm. The trust that he has for the development of the country was very much evident in his speech. He gave full summary of all the work that he has done for development of poor and downtrodden people and also gave a full account of the schemes that the government is going to do in the future," Naqvi told ANI.

"The Prime Minister also talked about the firm resolve that the government has for making India a 'corruption free' nation," he added.

"The issue of One Rank, One Pension (OROP) has been there for decades. We are always committed to solve this issue and we believe that this scheme should be there. The Prime Minister today, did not show any reluctance on the issue. He said that we are making rapid progress on the way of its (OROP) implementation and would be announcing it very soon. There is no point to unnecessarily create an issue over it... Whatever the Prime Minister has said would soon be implemented," he said.

Earlier, the Congress Party criticised the Prime Minister's address, saying that it was high on rhetoric and low on substance.

"Essentially the message that he was trying to send was his government will take the money of the poor from the Jan Dhan Yojna and from various other schemes which he claimed to launch. And that money will be tunnelled and funnelled into the progress and prosperity of capitalist India. So, therefore, it seemed as if there was an extortion paradigm which was being set in place that money would be taken from the poorest of the poor and through the banking system, it would be handed over to the capitalist so that he can fatten his coffers," Congress leader Manish Tewari said.

Prime Minister Modi touched upon various subjects during his Independence Day address from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort.

He vowed to relentlessly work towards eliminating corruption from the nation and added that his government has taken several steps to address the issue of black money.

Prime Minister Modi also assured the ex-servicemen that a decision on the OROP Scheme would be taken soon.