Red Fort, the symbol of the national democratic front of India, is going to host Prime Minister Modi on 15th August 2020 for the 74th Independence Day for making the ground-breaking record. He will hoist the tricolour for the 7th time in a row.

With this, he will only become the fourth person to do it. Indian Prime Minister who held the most record for hoisting tricolour is Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, followed by Indira Gandhi and Manmohan Singh respectively. 

Almost every Prime Minister in Indian democratic history has got the honorary opportunity to unfurl the Indian flag on Independence Day except two.

Chandra Shekhar Singh and Guljari Lal Nanda were the only two Prime ministers who couldn’t hoist the national flag. Narendra Modi will leave behind Atal Bihari Vajpayee with his 7th presence on 15th August 2020. 

After May 2013 and by the end of his second term, PM Modi will join Manmohan Singh jointly at third with ten hoistings. Pandit Nehru who proudly announced India’s freedom from the Red Fort on 15th August 1947 has continuously done it for 17 times. After his demise, Guljari Lal Nanda held the PM post for just 15 days, but he never got the opportunity. 

The untimely death of Lal Bahadur Shastri has only allowed him to hoist twice during his tenure between June 1964 and July 1966. Gulzarilal Nanda again became the acting prime minister for 15 days but still couldn’t get the opportunity. 

India’s first woman Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has hoisted the national flag for continuously 11th times in a row through her impactful rule from January 1966 to March 1977.

After the Emergency when the Indian Democratic army rejected Indira Gandhi, she made a comeback in January 1980 to the top executive chair of the country. Before her assassination, she became only the second person behind her father to hoist the national flag for sixteen times. Rajiv Gandhi between 1984 to 1989 got this honour five times. 

Red Fort history had seen an interesting turnaround in December 1989, when Vishwanath Pratap became the prime minister for the first non-congress government. But after November 1990, his government fell, and he hoisted the flag only once.

Chandrashekhar, who became India’s Prime Minister after congress’s support for seven months was too deprived of the opportunity to hoist the flag at red fort.

But Narasimha Rao who was India’s Prime Minister from June 1991 & May 1966 has been on the Red Fort for five times, sharing the number with Rajiv Gandhi. 

After the 1996 National election, Atal Bihari Vajpayee did become the Prime Minister for 13 days. Still, he got his first honorary opportunity to hoist the flag only in March 1998 during his 13 months of government.

After the 1999 election, he returned to the chair and between March 1998 and May 2004, he stands fifth on the boards of 15th August presence on Red Fort. 

Before it, during June 1996 and March 1998, two prime ministers H. D. Deve Gowda and Inder Kumar Gujral too unfurled the precious Indian flag once.

Written by Tushant Baranwal 

Image Source: Business Today