Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day speech on Thursday, said that there should be swift investigation into crimes against women, adding that those responsible for such acts should face strict punishment without delay.

He also said that 140 crore Indians were worried about the safety of the Hindu community in Bangladesh amid reports of incidents of violence against religious minorities in the neighbouring country.

Here are some of the top quotes from the prime minister’s speech.

  • “We will have to think seriously as a society about the atrocities that are happening against women,” the prime minister said in his address from the Red Fort in Delhi. “There is outrage against this in the country. I can feel this outrage.” Modi said: “The country, the society and state governments must address this matter with utmost urgency.” There is a need to widely discuss punishment for atrocities against women so that there remains a fear of the consequences, he added. The prime minister’s remarks come amid widespread protests against the rape and murder of a junior doctor at a medical college in Kolkata earlier this month. The 31-year-old junior doctor and postgraduate student was found dead in the seminar hall of the hospital on August 9.
  • Modi called for discussions on the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code in the country, saying that it needed to be “secular” and not “discriminatory”. The Uniform Civil Code, is a proposed common set of laws governing marriage, divorce, succession and adoption for all citizens. Currently, such personal affairs of different religious and tribal groups – except in Uttarakhand and Goa – are based on community-specific laws, largely derived from religious scripture. The Bharatiya Janata Party claims that such a code would ensure equality and justice for women who are often denied rights under patriarchal personal laws. Critics, however, argue that the move could lead to the erasure of the personal law practices of minority communities. Referring to the Uniform Civil Code in his speech, Modi said: “A large section of the country believes, and it is true, that the civil code that we are living with is actually a communal civil code. I would say that it is the need of the hour to that there be a secular civil code in the country...Only then would we be free of the discrimination on the basis of religion.”
  • In his speech, the prime minister said that 140 crore Indians were worried about the safety of the Hindu community in Bangladesh. “We hope the situation normalises in the country soon,” the prime minister said. “Indians want the security of the Hindus and the minorities there to be ensured.” On August 5, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India after the student-led protests against a controversial quota scheme for government jobs, which started in July, evolved into a broader agitation against her Awami League government. Following the collapse of her government, several parts of Bangladesh have reported incidents of violence against religious minorities.
  • Modi also called for simultaneous elections, saying that frequent polls were creating hurdles in the country’s progress. “It has become easy to link any scheme and initiative with elections,” he said. “There are elections somewhere every three to six months. Every work is linked to elections.” The BJP has been pushing for simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and the state Assemblies on the grounds that holding elections every year is a burden on the government, businesses, courts, political parties, candidates contesting elections, and civil society at large. In September, the Centre set up a committee to look into the feasibility of such a move. The report, submitted in March, said that there is a need to bring back the cycle of simultaneous elections as had been held during the initial decades after Independence. Opposition parties alleged that the Union government acted unilaterally in taking steps to implement the “one nation, one election” plan. The Congress had said that the proposal goes against the basic structure of the Constitution.
  • Modi, in his speech, also said that about 75,000 seats will be created for medical courses in colleges in the next five years. “In the last 10 years, we have ensured that there are nearly 1 lakh medical seats,” he said. “Nearly 25,000 youngsters go abroad for medical education, and they are having to go to such places that it astonishes me.”