PM Modi Surpasses Record with 13th Consecutive Independence Day Speech

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation from the Red Fort on the occasion of India's 80th Independence Day. This was the 13th consecutive occasion when PM Modi unfurled the tricolour and gave a message to the nation from the Red Fort. With this historic address, he has become the second Prime Minister after former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to achieve this feat in India's parliamentary history. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who took over the reins of the country in 2014, addressed the nation on 15 August every year. With his 13th Independence Day speech, he has surpassed former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Indira Gandhi had addressed the nation on Independence Day consecutively between 1966 and 1976. The record for the most consecutive Independence Day speeches in India is held by the country's first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru had unfurled the tricolour from the Red Fort 17 times in a row from 1947 to 1963. At the start of the Independence Day celebrations, PM Modi unfurled the national flag at the Red Fort with traditional solemnity. Along with the unfurling of the flag, the 21 gun salutes were fired. Modi began his address to the nation on Independence Day.