Confident of returning to power, Modi aims for a developed India by 2047 in I-Day speech

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the country's 77th Independence Day, said on Tuesday (Aug 15) that he will return to Red Fort in 2024 and will present an account of the country's achievements, implying that he is confident of winning the general elections set to take place next year.

“The next five years are for unprecedented development. The biggest golden moment to realise the dream of 2047 is the next five years. The next time, on August 15, I will present before you the achievements and developments of the country from this Red Fort,” PM Modi said.

In his 10th consecutive Independence Day address, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for the year 2024, the Indian prime minister recited a poem to encourage people to fulfil the dream of making the country a developed nation by 2047.

"I firmly believe that when the country will celebrate 100 years of freedom in 2047, the country would be a developed India. I say this on the basis of the capability of my country and available resources. But the need of the hour is to fight three evils - corruption, dynasty and appeasement," he added.

This year PM Modi referred to the countrymen as 'parivaarjan' (my family members).

India made efforts to control inflation: PM Modi

PM Modi in his address also mentioned that the entire world is facing inflation but India has taken has made efforts to control the same.

"The world has still not recovered from Corona. The war gave rise to another crisis. Today, the world is facing the crisis of inflation. Inflation has the entire global economy in its clutches...It is unfortunate that when we import goods of our necessity, we also import inflation."

"But, India made all efforts to control inflation...We can't be content just because our situation is better than the rest of the world. I have to take more steps to see that the burden of inflation goes further down on the citizens of my country. We will take those steps and my efforts will continue...," he said.

India emerged as 'Vishwa Mitra', says PM

PM Modi also stated that during the COVID-19 pandemic, India emerged as a "Vishwa Mitra" (friend of the world) as the nation helped countries in need by supplying vaccine jabs to them.

"We have to make our country so strong that will contribute to Vishwa Mangal (Global welfare). After Covid, the way India helped the world during the time of crisis, India has emerged as Vishwa Mitra. When we talk about Vishwa Mangal which is India's basic idea that we have to expand," PM Modi said.

"We have presented philosophies and the world is now connecting with India over them. For the renewable energy sector, we said 'One Sun, One World, One Grid'. After Covid, we told the world that our approach should be of 'One Earth, One Help'. We can solve the problem when we address the issues of people, animals and plants equally. For the G20 Summit, we should focus on the idea of 'One World, One Family, One Future," he added.

Era of serial blasts over

PM Modi also said that the 'era of serial blasts was over' as there was a notable drop in terror attacks.

"We used to hear about bomb blasts every now and then in previous years. There used to be public announcements alerting people about possible bomb threats. There used to be warning messages asking people not to touch items as they may contain explosive devices.

"Earlier, we would often hear about serial blasts. But now such incidents are very much on the decline. There has been a drastic reduction in terror-related incidents. The era of serial blasts is over. The Naxal strongholds, too, are experiencing a change for the better," PM Modi said.

While concluding his speech, the PM said, "It should be our resolve that when the tricolour is hoisted in 2047 it is of developed India."

(With inputs from agencies)

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