The data also shows that the duration of Independence Day speeches has increased continuously over the decades. The average duration of speeches of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was 24 minutes, while that of Atal Bihari Vajpayee was 30 minutes, Indira Gandhi was 32 minutes, Manmohan Singh was 42 minutes, Rajiv Gandhi was 47 minutes and P.V. Narasimha Rao had 52 minutes.
While the average duration of Prime Minister Modi is 91 minutes, he also leads in terms of total speaking time. In 13 Independence Day addresses, he addressed the nation for a total of 1,177 minutes. This is much more than Indira Gandhi's 504 minutes in 16 speeches, Manmohan Singh's 417 minutes in 10 speeches and Jawaharlal Nehru's 400 minutes in 17 speeches.
Interestingly, despite addressing the Red Fort less often than Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister Modi's total speech time is more than double them. These figures present a different picture that despite less opportunities, his total address time has been the highest.
While Jawaharlal Nehru holds the record for addressing the nation on Independence Day 17 consecutive times and Indira Gandhi is second with 16 addresses, the total duration of Prime Minister Modi's 13 speeches is recorded as the highest.
Other Prime Ministers include P.V. Narasimha Rao addressed the nation for 259 minutes in five speeches, Rajiv Gandhi addressed the nation for 233 minutes in five addresses and Atal Bihari Vajpayee addressed the nation for 177 minutes in six speeches.
Over the past decade, Prime Minister Modi's long and content-rich Red Fort addresses have set a new tradition in which he lays out a roadmap to ambitious national goals like India 2047. The data also shows that the duration of Independence Day speeches has steadily increased with the growing agenda and broader vision of the country's development.