Giriraj Singh attends Independence Day flag hoisting at Red Fort
Synopsis
Key Takeaways
Pride swelled at the ramparts of history on Saturday, 15 August 2026, as Union Textiles Minister Giriraj Singh stood among senior national leaders to witness the tricolour rise over Red Fort, Delhi — the Republic's most resonant annual ritual.
Singh shared the moment on X, writing: 'आज लाल किले पर तिरंगे का ध्वजारोहण देखकर मन गर्व और सम्मान से भर उठा' — 'Seeing the tricolour hoisted at Red Fort today, the heart swelled with pride and respect.' He added that attending alongside other senior leaders of the nation was itself an act of saluting the country's glory and unity.
A tradition that began in 1947
The ceremony at Red Fort is not mere symbolism. Since 15 August 1947, India's Prime Minister has hoisted the national flag from its ramparts every Independence Day — an unbroken chain of seventy-nine years. The fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the banks of the Yamuna in Old Delhi, was the seat of Mughal power for two centuries before it became the stage on which free India first declared itself to the world.
Cabinet presence as collective resolve
Cabinet ministers attending the Red Fort ceremony is standard protocol, but it carries deliberate weight: the full presence of the Union government signals institutional continuity and collective ownership of the national moment. For Giriraj Singh, a Lok Sabha MP from Begusarai, Bihar and a senior figure in the BJP, the occasion is both a civic duty and a public affirmation of the party's patriotic identity on the country's most-watched national day.