Tributes to martyrs incomplete until the poor progress: Modi

He was addressing a gathering after paying floral tributes to Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev at their memorial close to the India-Pakistan border

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that tributes to martyrs of nation's freedom struggle will remain incomplete until change is brought in the lives of countrymen, especially the farmers and the poor.

"Our farmers should progress, our youth should have jobs... There should be a change in the lives of our poor people living in villages and cities. Until we bring such a change, our tribute to nation's martyrs will remain incomplete," Modi said during his address.

He was addressing a gathering after paying floral tributes to Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev at their memorial here close to the India-Pakistan border.

Invoking Mahatma Gandhi and independence, the Prime Minister asserted that poor people would be provided houses while ensuring cleanliness in the country.

"We have proposed that nobody should be left without a house by 2022, after 75 years of our Independence. We want every poor one to have a house," he said.

"In 2019, 150 years of Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary will be celebrated. Is it not our responsibility to make India clean for those who sacrificed their lives?" he asked the gathering.

"Our motherland should be clean and every one should get a chance to progress... We are working to take India in this direction," he said.

Earlier Modi paid rich tributes to Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru on their martyrdom day.

"On their martyrdom day, I pay my respects to Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru who sacrificed their life for the nation," he said in a statement.

Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were tried for killing British Superintendent of Police Saunders on December 17, 1928, and were awarded the death sentence. They were hanged in the Central Jail at Lahore on March 23, 1931.