At the start of India's commemorations of independence from Britain, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inspected the guard of honour.
He then stood - under heavy security - beneath the 17th century Red Fort in Old Delhi to deliver his annual address.
Mr Modi called for national unity, but wasted no time in taking aim at neighbouring Pakistan.
He said India had cried when children were killed in a Taliban attack on a school in the Pakistani region of Peshawar in 2014.
But across the border, he suggested, was a government backing terrorism.
Pakistan foreign affairs advisor, Sartaj Aziz, responded by accusing India of trying to divert attention from the grim tragedy unfolding in recent weeks in the part of Kashmir it controls.
In his speech Narendra Modi also referred to what he said were messages of support he's received from people inside Pakistan, including the western province of Balochistan.
He said Pakistan is sponsoring terror and committing rights abuses in the region known for a long-standing insurgency.
Balochistan's provincial capital, Quetta, was the scene of a deadly suicide bombing earlier this month (Aug 8), claimed both by a Taliban faction and by I-S.
Pakistan says India is backing the uprising in Balochistan
