India woke up free on August 15, 1947, but its first Independence Day looked very different from the ceremony the country knows today.
With the transfer of power, British rule in India ended. India became an independent Dominion, with Nehru as its first prime minister and Lord Louis Mountbatten as its first Governor-General.
The ceremony later became the template for the annual Red Fort tradition. August 15 was filled with official ceremonies as the new government took charge. He raised it there for the first time on August 16 and addressed the gathering. On August 15 itself, Nehru was occupied with the swearing-in of the new government and other official events.
But the Independence Day that Indians know today had not yet taken shape.
