Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday delivered his longest Independence Day address yet, speaking for 103 minutes (1 hour 43 minutes) from the ramparts of the Red Fort.
The speech surpassed his previous record of 98 minutes (1 hour 38 minutes) set last year. Modi had first set a personal record in 2015 with an 88-minute address. In comparison, former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s speech in 1947 lasted 72 minutes.
Modi delivered his first Independence Day speech in 2014, which lasted 65 minutes. In 2015, he spoke for 88 minutes, while his 2018 address from the Red Fort was 83 minutes long. In 2019, the speech extended to nearly 92 minutes, followed by 90 minutes in 2020. His 2021 address lasted 88 minutes, in 2022 he spoke for 74 minutes, and in 2023 the speech ran for 90 minutes.
Before Modi, the longest Independence Day speeches were by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1947 at 72 minutes and IK Gujral in 1997 at 71 minutes. Nehru and Indira Gandhi also hold the record for the shortest addresses, speaking for just 14 minutes in 1954 and 1966, respectively.
Former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee also delivered some of the briefest speeches from the Red Fort. Singh’s speeches in 2012 and 2013 lasted only 32 and 35 minutes, while Vajpayee’s in 2002 and 2003 were even shorter at 25 and 30 minutes.
Here's how long PM Modi spoke for in his previous Independence Day speeches:
- 2014: 65 minutes
- 2015: 88 minutes
- 2016: 94 minutes
- 2017: 56 minutes
- 2018: 83 minutes
- 2019: 92 minutes
- 2020: 90 minutes
- 2021: 88 minutes
- 2022: 74 minutes
- 2023: 90 minutes
- 2024: 98 minutes
