Every year on Independence Day, the Prime Minister of the country unfurls the tricolour at the Red Fort. On Sunday, August 15th, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hoist the national flag for the eighth time in a row at the Lal Quila. Every 15th of August, the Prime Minister of India addresses the nation from the Red Fort in the morning after hoisting the flag and attends the "At Home" reception hosted by the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan in the evening. Throughout our country's 75-year history after we got Independence, a total of 13 prime ministers have unfurled the National Flag at the Red Fort. Here is the list of all13 prime ministers who got the privilege to hoist the national flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the Independence day:
1.Jawahar Lal Nehru (17 times/1947-1963): The first prime minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru holds the record of hoisting the national flag for the maximum number of times. He did so on 17 occasions.
2.Lal Bahadur Shahstri (2 times/1964-1965, ): Lal Bahadur Shastri, the successor of Nehru, delivered speeches from the Red For ramparts on two Independence Days - 1964 and 1965.
3. Indira Gandhi (16 times/1966-1976 and 1980-1984): Shastri's successor Indira Gandhi addressed the nation 11 times between 1966 and 1976 and then again 5 times, from 1980 to 1984, the year she was assassinated.
4. Morarji Desai(2 times/1977-1978): The Janata Party coalition government post-Emergency saw Morarji Desai hoisting the flag and delivering the speech from Red Fort twice, in 1977 and 1978.
5. Chaudhari Charan Singh(1 time/1979): Chaudhary charan singh got the opportunity to hoist the national flag only once, in the year 1979.
6. Rajiv Gandhi(5 times/1985-1989): From 1985 to 1989, it was Rajiv Gandhi who carried out the honours from Red Fort.
7. VP Singh(1 time/1990): VP singh who took oath after Rajiv gandhi’s untimely death, raised the flag once in 1990.
8. PV Narsimha Rao(5 times/1991-1995): It was the man who is accredited with opening up the Indian economy , PV Narsimha Rao who gave speech from Lal Quila from 1991-95.
10. IK Gujral (1 time/1997): Inder K. Gujral was the country’s PM for a year and addressed the nation in 1997 from the red fort.
11. Atal Bihari Vajpeyi(6 times/1998-2003): One of the co-founders of the Bhartiya Janata Party(BJP), Atal ji hoisted the national flag for a total of 6 times between 1998 and 2003.
12. Manmohan Singh(10 times/ 2004-2013): From 2004 to 2013, ManMohan Singh hoisted the flag 10 times, third highest after Nehru and Indira.
13. Narendra Modi( 8 times/ 2014 onwards): Narendra Modi, the current prime minister of India, has hoisted the national flags for a total of 8 times, from 2014 onwards.
