New Delhi: On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi set a new milestone by delivering his 12th consecutive Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort, surpassing Indira Gandhi’s record and placing him just behind Jawaharlal Nehru, who addressed the nation 17 times in a row.
Indira Gandhi, who served as prime minister from January 1966 to March 1977 and again from January 1980 until her assassination in October 1984, delivered a total of 16 Independence Day speeches, 11 of them consecutively. Nehru, India’s longest-serving prime minister (1947–1964), addressed the nation 17 times from the Red Fort. Lal Bahadur Shastri spoke from the ramparts on two occasions, in 1964 and 1965.
After the Emergency, Morarji Desai delivered two speeches from the Red Fort, while Chaudhary Charan Singh spoke once in 1979. Following Indira Gandhi’s assassination, Rajiv Gandhi addressed the nation five times. V.P. Singh spoke once in 1990, and P.V. Narasimha Rao delivered four consecutive speeches between 1991 and 1995. H.D. Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral spoke once each, in 1996 and 1997, respectively.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who served from 1998 to 2004, addressed the nation six times, while Manmohan Singh spoke for ten consecutive years from 2004 to 2014. Last year, Modi broke Manmohan Singh’s record by hoisting the national flag and delivering his 11th consecutive Independence Day speech from the Red Fort, which was also the longest ever, lasting 98 minutes.
Modi’s speeches typically highlight key national issues, developmental milestones, and policy initiatives. In his 2024 address, he called for a “secular” civil code to replace the current framework, which he described as “communal” and discriminatory, and also advocated for simultaneous elections.
