The Prime Minister has called for making India free from poverty, communal violence and crimes against women and usher in a new era of development. In his maiden Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort after unfurling the tri-colour, Mr. Narendra Modi asked the countrymen to take a pledge to make India clean by 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Mr. Modi asked the people to take the path of peace, unity and brotherhood to take the country to newer heights. Lamenting over the incidents of communal and caste violence he said that the country should be freed from these tensions as they hinder the growth of the nation. He said no one has gained from terrorism and Maoism and advised people involved in such activities to engage themselves in constructive work instead of carrying guns on their shoulders. He termed the female feoticide as a blot on the 21st century India and asked the parents not to kill daughters in the womb. He said increasing incidents of rapes are matter of shame and asked parents to impose restrictions on their sons to curb the scourge.

Commending sports persons for bringing laurels to the nation in international sporting events,he said, he is proud of India's daughters who have won medals.