Singh to hoist flag on Ind Day for 7th time; third PM to do so

New Delhi, Aug 13 (PTI) When Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh hoists the national flag from the ramparts of
Red Fort on Independence Day on Sunday, it will be a seven in
a row for him with only Jawahar Lal Nehru and Indira Gandhi
ahead of the economist-turned politician.

Singh will jump to the third position among all prime
ministers who had the honour of hoisting the national
tricolour at the historic Red Fort overtaking his predecessor
Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Singh already has the distinction of having become the
third longest serving premier in the country after Nehru and
his daughter Indira.
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.
In the fourth place is Vajpayee, the Bharatiya Janata
Party stalwart, who unfurled the tricolour six times. After
the defeat of the National Democratic Alliance in 2004 general
elections United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came to power and
Manmohan Singh took the oath as Prime Minister of India on May
22, 2004.
Since then Singh has hoisted the flag at Red Fort six
times. This Independence Day would be the seventh time that
Singh would be hoisting the National Flag putting him ahead of
Vajpayee.
Vajpayee who led National Democratic Alliance (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.
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 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.
Likewise, Chandrasekhar assumed Prime Minister's
office on November 10, 1990 but he had to resign before the
Independence Day of 1991 on June 21, 1991.
After the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri, Nanda remained
in the office from January 11-24, 1966 to be replaced by
Indira Gandhi.
Chaudhury Charan Singh, V P Singh, H D Deve Gowda and
Inder Kumar Gujaral hoisted the flag onece each during
their tenure as Prime Ministers.
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. PTI VS
MYR