New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of 68th Independence Day addressed the nation for the first time as 15th Prime Minister of India. In his 65-minute extempore speech in Hindi without any bullet-proof shield, he maintained his charm and touched almost all aspects that his government has on its agenda.
The Prime Minister on Friday also launched 'Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana' to help the poor open bank accounts which will come with the facility of a debit card and an insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh.
Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort, he asked the misguided youth who have taken to terrorism and Naxalism to shed their guns and adopt the path of peace and development while calling for moratorium on violence.
Expressing serious concern over rape incidents, the Prime Minister said "our heads hang in shame when we hear about such incidents" and attacked politicians who become "psychologists" by trying to "analyse" reasons for the crime.
Putting an end to the Nehruian vision of development, he announced that the Planning Commission, a socialist-era vestige, would be soon replaced with a new institution keeping in view the economic changes.
Referring to his humble origins, Modi said it is the power of the Constitution and democracy that a boy from a "poor family" got the opportunity to hoist the national flag at Red Fort.
Mixed reactions from political parties poured in from across the country with NDA allies welcoming Modi's maiden speech while the Opposition reacted to it in a cautiously caustic way.
Senior Congress leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad, Rashid Alvi, Manish Tewari reacted sharply to the proposed dissolution of the Planning Commission while other leaders like Abhishek Manu Singhvi agreed that the Planning Commission has indeed outlived it utility and needs a makeover.
While insisting that most of Modi's speech had nothing new, and was just a repackaging of UPA's schemes, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "Scrapping the Planning Commission is a big step and needs to be dealt with carefully. We need to see what the constitution of the commission is and whether it will have experts or the entire power will be vested in one person. The primary fear at the moment is that the entire power will be vested with the PM. The Planning Commission was conceptualised by Nehru and had been working fine but if Modi wants to modernize it then we need to ensure that he doesn't get all the power."
Reacting to the PM's speech, BJP president Amit Shah assured that the BJP as a party will continue the work of making the country more progressive.
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