At 103 minutes, Modi delivers longest Independence Day speech
What's the story
Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered his longest Independence Day speech on Friday, speaking for 103 minutes from the Red Fort in New Delhi. This is the longest address by any Indian prime minister on Independence Day. The record was previously held by Modi himself, who spoke for 98 minutes during his 2024 address. Modi gave his first Independence Day speech in 2014, which lasted 65 minutes.
Record details
Modi surpasses Indira Gandhi's record
Modi's shortest speech was in 2017, when he spoke for around 56 minutes. This year, Modi also broke Indira Gandhi's record by delivering 12 consecutive speeches from the Red Fort. He now stands second to Jawaharlal Nehru, who delivered 17 such addresses in a row. In 1947, Nehru had delivered a 72-minute-long speech on India's first Independence Day.
Records
Shortest speeches
Coming close to Nehru was IK Gujral, who delivered a speech of 71 minutes in 1997. Nehru and Indira Gandhi also delivered the shortest addresses on record, lasting 14 minutes in 1954 and 1966, respectively. Former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee delivered some of the shortest Independence Day speeches from the Red Fort.