Every Independence Day, a 21-shot salute is given to the Tricolour at the historic Red Fort. British-made guns are used for the same. This year, for the first time in 75 years, a made-in-India gun was used for the salute. “The sound that we always wanted to hear, we are hearing it after 75 years. It is after 75 years that the Tricolour has got the ceremonial salute at the Red Fort for the first time from a made-in-India gun,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.
“I want to salute the soldiers of this country from my heart. The manner in which my vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat has been collectively adopted by the soldiers and officers of the armed forces, I cannot salute them enough,” the PM further said.
Modi in his speech also referred to the Defence Ministry’s decision to issue multiple “positive indigenisation lists” that lists 300-plus items which will not be imported after a certain period of time. “I can see the seeds of Atmanirbhar Bharat in that resolution that will lead to the birth of a big tree,” Modi added.
The indigenous howitzer gun used for the gun salute was designed by the Centre-run Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The made-in-India gun was not alone in scripting a new chapter at the Red Fort. For the first time, MI-17 helicopters showered flowers at the Red Fort during the Independence Day celebrations.
