Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort for the first in his second term, prime minister Narendra Modi highlighted the new beginnings his government has made in recent days, and underlined the hopes of a new India in the making.

“Things that could not happen in the past 70 years have been achieved in the past 70 days,” he said during his one and a half hour long speech, referring in particular to the legislative moves outlawing instant talaq and reorganizing the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

On Kashmir, he said the dream of ‘one nation, one constitution’ was finally achieved and the country was proud of it. “Over 70 years, various governments made attempts to deal with Kashmir, but were not successful. A new approach was needed. We neither nurse problems, nor keep them pending,” he said, summarizing his government’s attitude to governance.

As local effects of global slowdown is making headlines in India, the prime minister expressed the confidence that the economic fundamentals remain strong, and the country was on way to become a 5 trillion economy in five years.

Discarding the old socialist ways of earlier decades, Modi said. “We cannot distribute wealth, unless wealth is created first”.

As promised in a previous budget, he reiterated the government’s commitment to make ‘ease of living’ for common citizens a priority, entailing minimum government intervention in day-to-day matters. With Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary ahead, he urged people to keep environment in mind and reduce the use of plastic to begin with.