PM Narendra Modi on Friday, August 15, delivered his longest Independence Day address yet, speaking for 103 minutes (1 hour 43 minutes) from the ramparts of the Red Fort. This surpassed his previous record of 98 minutes set last year and marked a significant milestone in his series of addresses since 2014.
Modi first set a personal record in 2015 with an 88-minute speech. Over the years, his addresses have varied in length: 65 minutes in 2014, 88 in 2015, 83 in 2018, nearly 92 in 2019, 90 in 2020, 88 in 2021, 74 in 2022, and 90 minutes in 2023. In comparison, former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s inaugural 1947 speech lasted 72 minutes.
Historically, the longest Independence Day speeches before Modi were by Nehru in 1947 and IK Gujral in 1997, at 72 and 71 minutes, respectively. Interestingly, Nehru and Indira Gandhi also delivered the shortest addresses, speaking for just 14 minutes in 1954 and 1966.
