This is no ordinary morning: PM on I-Day

India celebrated its 69th Independence Day Saturday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the nation from the iconic Red Fort in the capital New Delhi. “It can be done”.

Speaking about corruption, he said: “I want to reaffirm that this nation will get rid of corruption”.

Manish Tewari information minister in the Congress government said Modi failed to address the corruption allegations raised in parliament accusing him of lacking the “moral authority” to tell his lieutenants to quit.

Outlining that the Jan Dhan scheme has helped in opening 17 crore bank accounts of the poor and Rs 20,000 crore has been deposited in these accounts, Modi said: “After all who are the banks for”.

The National Democratic Alliance would fulfil its “dream of a corruption free India“, Modi said. The premier also said that he would eradicate corruption, insisting that the problem started at the top and was eating away at the country “like a termite”.

Likening it to treating a serious ailment which requires administering strong medicines, he said, “there can be side-effects but the ailment has to be cured”.

He is basically sensitising the people that it is more hard than he thought without actually saying it by saying that at least he has stemmed the flow of black money from the country.

He claimed that the “poison” of casteism and communalism could be fought with the “nectar of development” and said the people of this country would take it to new heights. This had sparked of criticism in various quarters-not to talk about the disappointment among envoys of the Arab world in Delhi-that as the leader of the Hindu-right in India, Modi was deliberately avoiding to engage with them.

For the institutionalised welfare of farmers, he said the Agriculture Ministry will be renamed as Ministry for Agriculture and Farmers, a decision that comes against the backdrop of growing suicides.

He did, however, stress on the importance of India being “No 1 in Start-ups”.

“One year later, it seems that caution characterizes the Modi government’s performance just as enthusiasm had defined Modi’s election promises”, the Washington-based Hudson Institute said this week. Bank accounts are essential for integrating the poor into the financial system.

Talking to news channels, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said only rich has space in Modi’s ‘Team India.’ “Which Team India is he talking about, you have two India’s in the making”. He also spoke about the Rs 6500 crore of undeclared money has been disclosed during the compliance window provided by the government.

‘I appeal to the states and all other stakeholders to connect these villages with electricity system within 1000 days’. The government, he said, had brought down inflation despite poor rainfall, and called for a restructuring of agricultural practices.

Former Defence Minister A K Antony accused the Prime Minister of going back on his commitment on “One Rank, One Pension”.

“If our unity breaks, we break”. He said India was a target of “vicious terrorist groups” operating from ‘across the borders.’ He said that neighbours must ensure that their territory was not used by forces inimical to India.