At 103 Minutes, PM Modi Delivers His Longest Independence Day Speech

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday delivered his - and by any Prime Minister in history - longest Independence Day speech to date, as he addressed the nation for a remarkable 103 minutes (1 hour 43 minutes) from the ramparts of the Red Fort. 

The Prime Minister began his speech at 7.34am and concluded it at 9.17am.

His public address surpassed his previous record of 98 minutes (1 hour 38 minutes) last year. 

He first broke the record in 2015 with an 88-minute (1 hour 28 minutes) speech in 2015. In 1947, former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru delivered a speech of (1 hour 12 minutes) 72 minutes.

He spoke for 65 minutes (1 hour 5 minutes) during his first speech from the Red Fort in 2014, and 96 minutes in 2016. 

Mr Modi's shortest speech was in 2017 when he spoke for around 56 minutes. In his radio address 'Mann Ki Baat' that year, he said he had received letters from people complaining that his Independence Day speeches were "a little too long" and promised to make a shorter speech. 

In 2018, Mr Modi's address from the ramparts of the Red Fort was 83 minutes (1 hour 23 minutes). Subsequently, in 2019, he spoke for nearly 92 (1 hour 32 minutes). In 2020, his address lasted 90 (1 hour 30 minutes).

His Independence Day speech in 2021 lasted 88 minutes (1 hour 28 minutes) and in 2022, he spoke for 74 (1 hour 14 minutes). In 2023, his speech was 90 minutes (1 hour 30 minutes).

Besides, Mr Modi on Friday also broke former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's record by delivering 12 consecutive speeches from Red Fort to stand next only to India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru who delivered 17 Independence Day addresses in a row.

Nehru and Gandhi also gave the shortest speeches on record at 14 minutes in 1954 and 1966, respectively.

Former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee also gave some of the shortest Independence Day speeches from the Red Fort.

Singh, Mr Modi's predecessor, delivered 10 speeches over his long tenure at the helm and stuck to the 50-minute mark in his Independence Day speeches. 

While he delivered speeches that lasted 50 minutes only on two occasions -  in 2005 and 2006 - during the remaining eight years, his speech ranged from 32 minutes to 45 minutes. 

Singh's speeches in 2012 and 2013 lasted only 32 and 35 minutes, respectively. Vajpayee's speeches in 2002 and 2003 were even shorter at 25 and 30 minutes.