India's biggest national festival - Independence Day is approaching. From villages to big cities to the government and non-government organisations to individuals, everyone plunged into the preparation for the upcoming I-Day celebration set to be held on August 15. The mood of festivity started prevailing all around as patriotism and the love of the nation spiralled out through the heart of every citizen in our beloved country. Independence Day is a time when we recall the sacrifice of our freedom fighters and leaders who shaped up today's India, the country we are living in and cheering for.
Campaigns like - 'Har Ghar Tiranga' and 'Tiranga Yatra' got momentum across the country. 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign became the latest buzz of the town following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for organising the event ahead of Independence Day. In his monthly 'Mann Ki Baat' radio broadcast on July 28, PM Modi talked about the Har Ghar Tiranga Abhiyan and urged people to upload selfies with the national flag on the harghartiranga.com website.
In order to remember the incredible contribution of our successive prime ministers (PMs), let's take a look at the PMs who hoisted the national flag most times:
- Congress stalwart Jawahar Lal Nehru, who was the Prime Minister of India, hoisted the national flag at the Red Fort maximum times. He unfurled the Indian flag for a continuous 17 years from August 15, 1947, to 1964.
- Indira Gandhi, known as the Iron Lady of India, hoisted the flag 16 times during her two regimes from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 until her assassination in 1984.
- Narendra Modi, India's current Prime Minister, who recently created history after taking oath for his record third term, hoisted the national flag straight 10 times from 2014 to 2023, equalling his immediate predecessor Manmohan Singh's record. PM Modi is set to break Singh's record on upcoming August 15.
- Manmohan Singh, the face of the liberalisation of the Indian economy, unfurled the national flag 10 times in a row after coming to power in 2004.
- Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) icon, hoisted the tricolour six times during his regime from 1998 to 2004.
- Congress leader Rajiv Gandhi hoisted the national flag 5 times at the Red Fort from 1984 to 1989.
- Congress leader Narasimha Rao, who is credited for setting the stage for liberal economic policy, also hoisted the national flag 5 times at the Red Fort during his tenure 1991-96.
- Lal Bahadur Shastri (1964-66) and Morarji Desai (1977-79) hoisted the national flag two times each.
- There have been four Prime Ministers - Chaudhary Charan Singh (1979-80), Vishwanath Pratap Singh (1989-90), HD Deve Gowda (1996-97) and Inder Kumar Gujral (1997-98) who unfurled the flag just once throughout their term.
- Meanwhile, there have been two Prime Ministers - Gulzarilal Nanda and Chandra Shekhar - who never got the opportunity to hoist the national flag at the Red Fort during their tenure.
Also read: Independence Day 2024: Check steps to download your 'Har Ghar Tiranga' certificate
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