I-Day speech: Modi indirectly attacks opposition

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday indirectly attacked the opposition in his Independence Day speech, saying they spread "negativity".

"I am seeing there are some people who want to seek negativity, spread negativity and the more they do so, the better is their sleep. These people have no programmes, no plans and neither are 125 crore people of Team India prepared to invest their time on them," Modi said from the Red Fort ramparts.

Modi's speech came two days after the close of monsoon session of parliament that saw a bitter stand-off between his Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress. The government could not get the Goods and Services Tax bill passed in the parliament.

Modi said his remarks should not be seen through a political prism and added that the Comptroller and Auditor General report on coal allocations, which came during the previous UPA government, had pointed to a loss of Rs.176,000 crore.

Modi said his government had conducted auctions in a time-bound manner.

"About Rs.3 lakh crore will come into the exchequer. Ask yourself. Has corruption gone or not? Did the doors of corruption in the country close or not? We have done it," he said.