Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, hoisted the tricolor for the first time on August 15, 1947, and continued to do so every year until his death in office on May 27, 1964, marking 17 consecutive Independence Day celebrations.Indira Gandhi, who served from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 to 1984, addressed the nation on Independence Day 16 times.
PM Modi has now surpassed his immediate predecessor, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who hoisted the tricolor ten times during his tenure from 2004 to 2014.
India has had 15 Prime Ministers to date, out of which 13 have had the opportunity to hoist the national flag at the Red Fort. The only two Prime Ministers who did not hoist the tricolor on Independence Day were Gulzari Lal Nanda and Chandra Shekhar.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister of the BJP-led NDA government, hoisted the tricolor six consecutive times during his second term from March 19, 1998, to May 22, 2004. Although he was sworn in thrice as PM, he did not have the opportunity to hoist the flag during his first term from May 16, 1996, to June 1, 1996.
Rajiv Gandhi, who served from October 31, 1984 following the assassination of his mother, Indira Gandhi to December 2, 1989, hoisted the national flag for five consecutive years. This record was later matched by PV Narasimha Rao, who served from June 21, 1991, to May 16, 1996.
Lal Bahadur Shastri and Morarji Desai each hoisted the flag twice. Shastri did so between June 9, 1964, when he became Prime Minister, and January 11, 1966, when he passed away in Tashkent. Morarji Desai, the first non-Congress Prime Minister of independent India, hoisted the flag twice between March 24, 1977, and July 28, 1979, when his government ended.
Four Prime Ministers—Charan Singh, VP Singh, HD Deve Gowda, and IK Gujral each hoisted the flag once.