India’s place on the world stage is “rightfully” earned, said Russian President Vladimir Putin, as part of a number of congratulatory messages the government received on India’s 76th Independence Day on Monday. While U.S. President Joseph Biden lauded Indian democracy, guided by Mahatma Gandhi’s message of “truth and non violence”, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s call to Indians in 1947. Both French President Emmanuel Macron and British PM Boris Johnson sent messages of congratulations in English and Hindi.
India also received messages from the neighbourhood, including Bhutan, whose PM Lotay Tshering wrote to President Droupadi Murmu, calling this a “historic” moment for India that “reinforces the global significance of diversity for a society to progress”, and from Maldives Foreign Minister and U.N. General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid.
