List of 13 Prime Ministers who hoisted the national flag at Red Fort | Important Facts

List of 13 Prime Ministers Who Hoisted the National Flag At the Red Fort

Today, on 15th August 2025, we completed our 78th year of independence, and we start celebrating 79th Independence Day.

• Every year, the Prime Minister of India unfurls the national flag at the Red Fort, but there are some who got a chance to become the PM of India but were not able to hoist the national flag at the Red Fort.
• Gulzarilal Nanda and Chandrasekhar were the only two PMs who did not get the opportunity to hoist the National Flag at the Red Fort.

*Years mentioned above are not the office duration but the years in which they hoisted the National Flag at the Red Fort.

Important Facts About the National Flag Of India

Why is the National Flag hoisted at the Red Fort?

• It represents the symbol of anti-colonial resistance.
• It was the center of India’s First War of Independence, which is the 1857 revolt and the INA trials.
• Subhas Chandra Bose, the Netaji of INA, gave a famous call, Chalo Dilli (March to Delhi), which was linked to the idea of the recapture of the Fort.

Important Facts about Prime Ministers Who Hoisted the National Flag At the Red Fort

• Red Fort, a symbol of national integration, has seen Nehru, the first Head of Government, unfurling the national flag 17 times, the most by any Indian Prime Minister. He is closely followed by Indira Gandhi in the second place, getting the honour 16 times.
• Nehru hoisted the flag for the first time at the Red Fort after India became Independent of the British rule on August 15, 1947. After unfurling the flag, Nehru delivered his famous speech “Tryst with Destiny”.
• Nehru remained in office till May 27, 1964, and hoisted the flag continuously for 17 times. Indira Gandhi assumed office in 1966 till March 24, 1977, and again from January 14, 1980, to October 31, 1984.
• In her first tenure, Gandhi hoisted the flag at Red Fort continuously for 11 times followed by five times in her second tenure. In the history of independent India, Gulzarilal Nanda and Chandrasekhar are the only two Prime Ministers who did not get a chance to hoist the flag at the ramparts of the Red Fort.
• After the death of Nehru, Gulzarilal Nanda took over as the Prime Minister on May 27, 1964 but he resigned on June 9 in the same year and he was replaced by Lal Bahadur Shastri.
• After the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri, Nanda remained in the office from January 11-24, 1966 to be replaced by Indira Gandhi.
• Likewise, Chandrasekhar assumed the Prime Minister’s office on November 10, 1990 but he had to resign before the Independence Day of 1991 on June 21, 1991.
• Lal Bahadur Shastri and Morarji Desai got a chance twice each to unfurl the tricolour, while Rajiv Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao did it five times each. Rajiv remained in office from October 31, 1984 to December 1, 1989 while Rao was in office from June 21, 1991 to May 10, 1996.
• Chaudhury Charan Singh, V P Singh, H D Deve Gowda and Inder Kumar Gujaral hoisted the flag once each during their tenure as Prime Ministers.
• Vajpayee, who led NDA from 19th March 1998 to May 22, 2004, unfurled the national flag continuously for six times at the Red Fort. He became the Prime Minister on May 16, 1996 also but could not continue in the office more than 14 days and had to resign on June 1, 1996.
• Manmohan Singh remained in office between May 22, 2004, to May 26, 2014, and got the opportunity to hoist the flag 10 times.
• Since May 26, 2014, Narendra Modi has been in office and hence hoisted the flag 12 times on Independence Day (between 2014 to 2025).
• Besides this, PM Modi also hoisted the flag on 21st October 2019 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Azad Hind government formed by freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
• So, actually, PM Modi has hoisted the national flag at the Red Fort 13 times till now.

Also, refer :

• 15 Amazing Facts About Indian Independence Day
• Amazing Facts About India That Mesmerize You
• National Symbols of India
• Download the pdf of Important MCQs From the History Of Ancient India
• List Of Important Inscriptions In India