India has helped the world discover the true potential of democracy, President Droupadi Murmu said in her address to Indians on the eve of the country’s 75th Independence Day.
“We Indians proved skeptics wrong,” she said. “Democracy not only grew roots in this soil, it was enriched too.”
In her first address to the nation as a president, Murmu said that while celebrating Independence Day, citizens should salute the freedom fighters who “sacrificed everything so that we can all breathe in a free India.”
“It is our resolve that by the year 2047, we will fully realise the dreams of our freedom fighters,” the president said.
Murmu said that on the occasion of Independence Day, the citizens of the country would celebrate their “bharatiyata”, or Indianness.
“India is full of diversity,” she said. “But, we all also have something in common. It is this common thread that binds us together and inspires us to walk together with the spirit of ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’ [One India, Best India]”.
The president said that while the world was grappling with the economic consequences of the severe crisis of the coronavirus epidemic, India took care of itself and is now moving forward again at a rapid pace.
“India is currently one of the fastest growing major economies in the world,” she said.
She urged the citizens of the country to understand their fundamental duties and follow them so that India can touch new heights.
The president also said that women in the country were moving ahead by overcoming several stereotypes or barriers. “Their increasing participation in social and political processes would prove decisive,” she said. “Today the number of elected women representatives in our Panchayati Raj Institutions is more than fourteen lakhs.”
She said that India’s hopes rest on the shoulder of the country’s daughters.
“They can achieve great success if given the right opportunities,” Murmu added. “From being fighter-pilot to space scientist, our daughters are waving their flag in every field.”
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