Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the nation during the 80th Independence Day celebrations at Red Fort in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a 75-minute Independence Day speech on Saturday (August 15, 2026), the shortest in four years and his fourth shortest ever.
On India’s 79th Independence Day last year, Mr. Modi had delivered a 103-minute speech, breaking his own record of a 98-minute address delivered on the 78th Independence Day in 2024.
Independence Day LIVE updates- August 15, 2026
His longest Independence Day speech before 2024 was for 96 minutes in 2016, while his shortest speech was in 2017, when he spoke for 56 minutes.
Mr. Modi delivered his 13th consecutive Independence Day speech from the Red Fort on Saturday (August 15). Last year, he had broken Indira Gandhi’s record by delivering 12 consecutive speeches from the Red Fort, to stand next only to Jawaharlal Nehru, who delivered 17 Independence Day addresses in a row.
Mr. Modi delivered his first Independence Day speech in 2014 and it lasted 65 minutes.
His speech in 2015 lasted 88 minutes. In 2018, Mr. Modi’s address was for 83 minutes. In 2019, he spoke for nearly 92 minutes.
In 2020, Mr. Modi’s Independence Day address lasted 90 minutes.
The Prime Minister’s Independence Day speech lasted 88 minutes in 2021 and in 2022, he spoke for 74 minutes.
In 2023, Mr. Modi’s speech was for 90 minutes.
Before Mr. Modi, Nehru in 1947 and I.K. Gujral in 1997 had the longest speeches for 72 minutes and 71 minutes, respectively.
Nehru and Indira Gandhi also gave the shortest speeches on record for 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’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.
Published – August 15, 2026 10:07 am IST
