Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to deliver his eleventh consecutive Independence Day address on Thursday, marking his first since securing a record-equaling third consecutive term in office. With his swearing-in on June 9, Modi matched the three-term record set by India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Modi is poised to join Nehru and his daughter, Indira Gandhi, as only the third Prime Minister to address the nation from the Red Fort on August 15 for eleven consecutive years.
Nehru delivered seventeen consecutive speeches, while Indira Gandhi, who served as Prime Minister from January 1966 to March 1977 and again from January 1980 to October 1984, made sixteen consecutive addresses. Modi will also surpass former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s record of ten Independence Day speeches.
Since his inaugural speech in 2014, where he introduced initiatives like Swachh Bharat and Jan Dhan accounts, Modi has used the platform to announce various key programs. His Independence Day speeches are notably the longest among Indian Prime Ministers, averaging 82 minutes. Former Prime Minister I.K. Gujral, with a single speech in 1997, is the closest at 71 minutes.
Modi’s speeches range from a brief 55 minutes in 2017 to an extensive 94 minutes in 2016. Historical records show that the length of Independence Day addresses has grown over time, with Nehru’s first speech in 1947 lasting only 24 minutes, and Indira Gandhi’s longest speech in 1972 extending to 54 minutes before Modi’s tenure.
