On the morning of India's 80th Independence Day, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan extended heartfelt greetings to the nation — saluting the martyrs who gave everything for freedom and weaving that remembrance into a call for a self-reliant, prosperous India.

A salute to the immortal martyrs

Chouhan opened his message with deep reverence for India's freedom fighters, writing 'koti-koti naman' — 'a million salutes' — to every martyr and freedom warrior who sacrificed all for Maa Bharati. 'The country will always remember their sacrifice, penance and dedication with reverence and gratitude,' he said, setting a solemn, grateful tone before turning to the present.

Vande Mataram at 150 — more than a song

At the heart of the message is a milestone that gives this Independence Day an added layer of meaning: the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram. Written in the 1870s, the national song became the rallying cry that stitched a fractured subcontinent together during the freedom struggle. Chouhan called it not merely a song but 'a mantra that awakened the spirit of patriotism in the hearts of crores of countrymen and bound the nation in a single thread during the independence movement.' The anniversary makes this year's celebrations a dual commemoration — of nationhood and of the anthem that helped forge it.

Farmers, women and youth at the centre of the government's pledge

Chouhan anchored his forward-looking message in the constituencies closest to his ministerial brief. He spelled out the government's sankalp — resolve — as a concrete list: prosperous farmers, happy villages, every sister becoming a lakhpati (earning over a lakh rupees), welfare for the poor, and wings for the dreams of the young. The reference to lakhpati didis echoes a flagship push through women's self-help groups, a programme that has gained significant momentum under the Atmanirbhar Bharat framework announced in 2020.

Invoking the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chouhan described India as 'writing new chapters of progress and development' — framing Independence Day not as a backward glance alone, but as a running start into what the government calls Viksit Bharat, a developed India.

Unity, integrity and the road to Viksit Bharat

The minister closed with a collective call to action: 'Let us all together, while keeping the unity, integrity and glory of the nation intact, contribute to building a developed and self-reliant India.' The dual invocation — Jai Hind, Vande Mataram — bookended the message with both the post-independence salute and the pre-independence war cry, a deliberate bridge across India's entire arc of nationhood.