Prime Minister Narendra Modi today delivered his longest Independence Day speech at 98 minutes as he addressed the country.
PM’s longest Independence Day speech before today was 96 minutes in 2016 while his shortest speech was in 2017 when he spoke for around 56 minutes.
PM Modi also became the prime minister to hoist the tricolour on Independence Day and deliver a speech for the third highest time.
His first Independence Day speech in 2014, which lasted for 65 minutes.
This was PM Modi’s 11th address as PM and his first after taking charge for a third term.
Last year, Modi’s speech was 90 minutes long.
Before pm Modi, Jawaharlal Nehru in 1947 and IK Gujral in 1997 had the longest speeches at 72 and 71 minutes, respectively. Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi also gave the shortest speeches on record at 14 minutes in 1954 and 1966, respectively.