Celebrating six decades of Indian Independence:
Unfurling of Tricolour on Red Fort down the years
The Independence Day celebrations on 15th August are synonymous with the unfurling of the national flag by the Prime Minister on the Red Fort, in Delhi in the morning. As we celebrate the 61st Independence Day, we take a look at the ceremony at the Red Fort down the years.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India, unfurled the national flag for the first time on the Red Fort on August 16, 1947. Since then the hoisting of the tricolour atop the Red Fort has become a symbol of Indian independence and our pride.
Figuratively speaking, Pandit Nehru hoisted the flag atop the Red Fort 17 times since 1947, the maximum number of times by any Indian Prime Minister during the sixty-one years of our independence. His daughter Indira Gandhi comes a close second, unfurling the tricolour 16 times. Next in the line, Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee has hoisted flag atop the Red Fort six times, followed by Rajiv Gandhi and PV Narasimha Rao - five each, Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1964 and ’65, Morarji Desai in 1977 and ’78, Charan Singh in 1979, Shri VP Singh - 1990, Shri HD Deve Gowda – 1996 and Shri Inder Kumar Gujral – 1997. Interestingly, Gulzari Lal Nanda, in his two brief tenures as interim Prime Minister, never hoisted the flag, besides Chandra Shekhar. The present Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will be hoisting the national flag atop the Red Fort for the 4th time on August 15, 2007.
We are releasing herewith photographs of the 12 different Prime Ministers who have unfurled the National Flag from the Ramparts of the Red Fort.
SK/PK/HS
(Release ID :29773)