PM Modi Overtakes Indira Gandhi’s Independence Day Record

Independence Day Record: On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi surpassed Indira Gandhi’s record by giving 12 speeches in a row from the Red Fort’s ramparts. He now trails only Jawaharlal Nehru, who gave 17 consecutive Independence Day remarks.

Indira Gandhi served in that capacity from January 1966 to March 1977 and again from January 1980 till her murder in October 1984. She gave 16 speeches as prime minister on August 15, 11 of which were consecutive. India’s longest-serving prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, spoke to the country 17 times from the Red Fort between 1947 and 1963. Lal Bahadur Shastri, India’s second prime minister, gave remarks from the Red Fort ramparts during two Independence Days in 1964 and 1965.

Morarji Desai gave the prime minister’s speech twice at the Red Fort after the emergency. Only once, in 1979, did Chaudhari Charan Singh deliver a speech on Independence Day. Rajiv Gandhi delivered the prime minister’s address five times from the Red Fort following Indira Gandhi’s murder. Only once in 1990 did Vice President Singh speak to the people on Independence Day from the Red Fort rampart. From 1991 to 1995, PV Narasimha Rao spoke to the country from the Red Fort for four years in a row.

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Inder Kumar Gujral and Deve Gowda both gave the I-Day speech once, in 1997 and 1996, respectively. Six times, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the country’s prime minister from March 1998 to May 2004, spoke to the crowd on Independence Day. In the ten years between 2004 and 2014, Manmohan Singh spoke to the country.

For the eleventh time in a row, PM Modi raised the national flag from the Red Fort’s ramparts last year, breaking the record set by his direct predecessor, Manmohan Singh. Last year, he also gave the longest Independence Day speech ever given by a prime minister, lasting a record 98 minutes.

On August 15, PM Modi always discusses the nation’s progress under his leadership and the major challenges of the day. He frequently breaks up his remarks by announcing new plans or policy initiatives. During his August 15, 2024, speech, he made a clear case for simultaneous polling and a “secular” civil code in place of the existing “communal” and “discrimination” framework.