NEW DELHI -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi touted his government's poverty-alleviation programs in his Independence Day speech Saturday, but the address was thin on plans for the future and made no mention of the setbacks to his agenda to overhaul the economy.
Modi won a resounding election victory in May 2014 largely because of his promises to revive India's slacking economy and put an end to corruption scandals that the ruling Congress party was mired in.
But achieving his agenda has proved hard, with both his land and tax change proposals stalled by the opposition.
Saturday's annual speech marked the anniversary of the day India gained its freedom from British colonial rule in 1947. The occasion is normally used to lay out the government's broad vision for the country.
In his first speech as prime minister last year, Modi had done just that. He had set out safety for women and making India a global manufacturing hub as his main priorities. He also had initiated a cleanliness drive and promised to eradicate poverty in a nation where hundreds of millions of people live on less than a dollar a day.
In this year's speech, a grand vision for the future was absent, replaced by a listing of the government's achievements.
Through the hour-long speech, made on a warm and humid morning, Modi mopped his face with his handkerchief and sipped from a glass of water. Hundreds of spectators, senior ministers and diplomats fanned themselves with their invitation cards.
At one point, Modi appeared to sneer at previous governments, saying all governments make plans and promises but that his actually delivered. He then went on to list some of his government's accomplishments, mainly those aimed at India's poor.
He said that in its 15 months in power, his government has been involved in no corruption scandals.
Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party faces a close election in the crucial state of Bihar later this year.
His comments come just days after India's Parliament was adjourned after weeks of controversy as opposition legislators accused three senior ruling party members of abusing their authority and financial irregularities. The Bharatiya Janata party has denied wrongdoing by party leaders.
A Section on 08/16/2015