New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday urged citizens to celebrate the Independence Day with honour, pride and glory, and take a pledge for a developed India.
Modi said this in a post on Instagram and also shared a video showing the NDA MPs and Union ministers greeting him by waving the tricolour and raising slogans of ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ when he entered the venue of the ruling coalition’s weekly ‘Mangal Milan’ meeting here.
“Let us pay tribute to our freedom fighters. Let us take a pledge for a developed India. Har Ghar Tiranga, Ghar Ghar Tiranga, Har Mann Tiranga (Tricolour in every home, tricolour in every heart). Come, let us hoist the tricolour at every home. Bharat Mata Ki Jai, Vande Mataram, Vande Mataram, Vande Mataram,” Modi said in the Instagram video.
Earlier, as soon as the prime minister entered the venue of the NDA parliamentary party meeting, the GMC Balayogi Auditorium at the Parliament House complex, the ministers and MPs greeted him by waving the national flag and raising ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ slogans.
The prime minister reciprocated the gesture by himself holding a national flag and waving towards the members present.
Those who attended the meeting included BJP president Nitin Nabin, Union ministers Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Nitin Gadkari, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and S Jaishankar.
Ministers belonging to NDA constituent parties – HD Kumaraswamy (JD-S), Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu (TDP), Ramdas Bandu Athawale (RSP-A), and leaders Praful Patel (NCP), Upendra Kushwaha (RLM), and Satabdi Roy (NCPI), and others also attended it.
The NDA parliamentary party meeting also saw a presentation by Union Minister of Jal Shakti C R Paatil on different aspects of the Jal Shakti ministry, which is responsible for laying down policy guidelines and programmes for the development, conservation and management of water as a national resource.
The ministry is also responsible for an overall national perspective of water planning and coordination in relation to diverse uses of water.
The NDA parliamentary party meeting is held on every Tuesday when Parliament is in session.
The Monsoon session of Parliament, which began on July 20, is set to conclude on August 13.
Soon after the meeting, the NDA MPs staged a protest outside Parliament’s main gate, ‘Makar Dwar’, where they came face-to-face with opposition INDIA bloc MPs, who staged another protest.
The ruling alliance members protested and raised slogans over “brutal” police action on job aspirants in Jharkhand and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi allegedly “running away” from a debate on student protests in different parts of the country.
The opposition block protested over the issues surrounding the alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ayodhya Ram temple and demanded accountability from Union Home Minister Shah over alleged police excesses during the July 20 student protests over paper leaks.
The Monsoon session has seen repeated adjournments and virtually no business except the debate on two bills, including The Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026, which was passed by Parliament.
Four more bills were passed by the two Houses with little or no debate and three other bills were passed by the Lok Sabha, amid unrelenting protests by the opposition.
The opposition parties initially protested over the NEET paper leak and alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
They later pressed for a discussion on the police action against students protesting over the NEET paper leak and also demanded the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the home minister and their statements.
