Independence Day 2023: Narendra Modi will become the first non-Congress Prime Minister to hoist the national Tricolour from the ramparts of the Red Fort for the 10th time. With hoisting the national flag on the 77th Independence Day, PM Modi will equal the record of former PM Manmohan Singh of hoisting the tricolour for 10 consecutive times.
Apart from Manmohan Singh, only Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi have hoisted the flag more than 10 times at the Red Fort.
Since Indepence, India has been under the leadership of 15 Prime Ministers. Among this group, 13 Prime Ministers have been privileged to hoist the national flag at the Red Fort. Nehru was the first Prime Minister to unfurl the flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15, 1947 after India became independent. However, Gulzarilal Nanda and Chandra Sekhar were the only two Indian Prime Ministers who did not get the opportunity to hoist the national flag at Red Fort.
List of PMs who hoisted national flag at Red Fort
Jawaharlal Nehru: India's first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had hoisted the national flag 17 times at the Red Fort on Independence Day. Nehru hoisted the flag continuously for 17 consecutive times from August 1947 to 1963.
Indira Gandhi: Nehru's daughter and former PM Indira Gandhi holds the record of hoisting the national flag for second highest number of times. She got the honour 16 times but achieved the feat in two terms. Indira Gandhi had hoisted the flag 11 consecutive times between 1966 and 1976. She hoisted the flag for five consecutive times between 1980 and 1984.
Manmohan Singh: Manmohan Singh is the first Prime Minister outside the Gandhi-Nehru family to hoist the Tricolour from Red Fort for 10 consecutive times. He holds the record of hoisting the tricolour for 10 times between 2004 and 2013.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee: The first Prime Minister of the BJP-led NDA coalition, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, proudly hoisted the tricolor on six consecutive occasions from 1998 to 2003. Even though he was elected for a consecutive second term, he did not have an opportunity to hoist the flag. He had a brief stint as Prime Minister between May 16, 1996, and June 1, 1996.
Rajiv Gandhi: Rajiv Gandhi had the opportunity to raise national flag for five consecutive occasions on the independence Day. He held the he position of Prime Minister from October 31, 1984 (the day his mother Indira Gandhi was assassinated) until December 2, 1989.
P V Narasimha Rao: PV Narasimha Rao raised the national flag for five times, equalling Rajiv Gandhi’s record. Rao was in office from June 21, 1991 to May 10, 1996.
Former PMs Lal Bahadur Shastri and Morarji Desai had the opportunity to raise the flag for two times each. Shastri raised the flag on two occasions between 1964 and 1965 while, Morarji Desai, who was the first non-Congress PM of independent India, hoisted the flag twice between 1977 and 1979.
Charan Singh, V P Singh, H D Deve Gowda, and Inder Kumar Gujral had the opportunity to raise the flag only once each during their respective tenures as Prime Minister.
77th Independence Day
Prime Minister Modi will lead the Nation in celebrating the 77th Independence Day from the Red Fort in Delhi on August 15. He will unfurl the National Flag and deliver the customary address to the nation from the ramparts of the historic monument.
This year’s Independence Day will culminate the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ celebrations, which were launched by the Prime Minister from Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on March 12, 2021 and will, once again, usher the country into ‘Amrit Kaal’ with renewed vigour to realise Narendra Modi’s dream of making India a developed country by 2047. A number of new initiatives have been taken to celebrate the 77th Independence Day. A large number of guests have been invited as compared to last year.
