PM Modi does away with bullet-proof shield at Red Fort

August 15, 2014

Breaking the three-decade old practice, Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered his Independence Day speech without the protection of any bullet-proof shield from the parapets of Red Fort. The last time a PM did so was the late Indira Gandhi. Ever since her assassination in 1984, bullet-proof shields for PMs at Red Fort became a usual security practice.
After the assassination of India’s PM Indira Gandhi in 1984, a bullet-proof shield was set up in front of the dais from which Rajiv Gandhi spoke at Red Fort while he was PM. Later the shield was expanded to cover the sideview of the PM as well in the tenure of AB Vajpayee in 1999. After Manmohan Singh became the PM in 2004, the shield was converted into a full 360-degree bullet-proof enclosure for his speech on August 15.

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