Sonia Gandhi wishes India on Independence day, asks 'do we have freedom of speech today?'

Wishing the citizens on India's 74th Independence Day, Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi, on Saturday released a statement highlighting India's deep-rooted democratic values, cultural diversity and its united front. Talking about India's fight against the Coronavirus pandemic, she said India will unitedly come out of the pandemic and the current economic crisis. Gandhi is set to step down as Congress-interim chief once the party elects a president - most Congress workers have urged Rahul Gandhi to take over the reins again.

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Sonia Gandhi issues statement on I-Day

She also took the moment to laud the bravery of the 20 martyrs who perished in the Galwan clashes at the LAC in June, paying tribute their success in foiling Chinese incursions. On the occasion of India's Independence, she also questioned whether India had freedo of speech, thought, word today - alluding to the Modi government's intolerance to dissent. She stated that as a responsible Opposition, she said that they would raise questions at every moment.

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PM Modi's speech highlights

In his seventh consecutive Independence day speech, PM Modi spoke about an array of topics ranging from Coronavirus vaccine to resuming elections in Jammu-Kashmir. A year after the abrogation of Article 370, PM Modi said that the delimitation process is underway in the valley, and once it is done, J&K will have elections. Apart from J&K's polls, he announced the deployment of NCC cadets to 173 border and coastal districts,  launch of a National Digital Health Mission under which health IDs will be given to everyone and updated on the 3 COVID-19 vaccines in their testing phases - a blueprint for mass production and then distribution is ready.

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Talking about India's neighbours, he said "from LoC to LAC" Indian soldiers have given a befitting reply to those who challenged the country's sovereignty and lauded India's boosted bilateral ties. Connecting India's over six lakh villages with optical fiber network within the next 1000 days, 'Make in India' to 'Make for World', foundation to the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, and 5 crore subsidized sanitary pads' distribution were some of the other topics the PM Modi touched upon. Celebrations were muted amid the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic with only 4000 invitees attending adhering to all social-distancing protocols.

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