NEW DELHI: The much-awaited maiden Independence Day address by Prime Minister Narendra Modi could be, in some ways, a break from the past: he could use the occasion to lay down his plans for the future rather than dish out the rhetoric-ridden vision statement that one associates with the August 15 speeches.Modi-watchers also suspect that, given his penchant to break established norms, the PM could end Red Fort 's monopoly as the venue for the I-Day addresses. This is nothing new for Modi though: as Gujarat chief minister, he had famously shifted the I-Day venue from Gandhinagar to obscure towns even as the opposition cried foul, accusing him of indulging in publicity stunts.In 2003, he unfurled the tricolour from Patan, capital of old Gujarat, and followed it up with a succession of I-Day venues from small towns: Anand , Himmatnagar, Sabarkantha, Dahod, Mehsana, Palanpur, Rajpipla, Rajkot, Nadiad, Junagadh and Bhuj.An official recalled in 2003, when Modi had first decided to unfurl the tricolour at Patan, Congress dismissed it an 'extravaganza', and got Vithal Pandya, father of slain BJP leader and minister Haren Pandya, to hoist the flag at Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat. "When he told us that he wanted a change in venue, we expected him to go for a business centre like Surat or a cultural capital like Vadodara, but he chose Patan, the capital of the Solanki dynasty, the last Hindu kings who ruled over much of present-day Gujarat. "The programmes over the two days had a distinct Hindu flavour to it with residents being asked to light more than 1,000 lamps on the I-Day evening. Modi also revived 'tolling of bells' and 'singing of patriotic songs at dawn' in Patan which continued later too," said an official who had worked with Modi.Modi declared 'Swantrata Diwas' as a Mahotsav (mega festival), leading to a six-day programme every year, including police parades, children's festivals, cultural programmes, display of military arms and artillery.Besides, Modi started the practice of launching projects worth Rs 5 crore in a chosen district every I-Day.These celebrations were held in Anand, Himmatnagar and Dahod in subsequent years. In 2007, just before the state assembly elections, he took the celebrations to his home turf Mehsana for the first time.In 2008, after winning the elections, Modi insisted on holding the celebrations in Banaskanta, known for its significant tribal population and cattle-rearing people.An officer in the Gujarat CMO recalled how Modi's I-Day programmes often gave them sleepless nights. "It was always a two-day programme with several bhoomi-pujans of new institutions, and the choice of the venue was always a surprise — Kheda, a Congress bastion in 2011, or Raj Pipla in 2009." "But Modiji managed to find a Sardar Patel connect with most of the places," he added.Modi also believes in symbolism which was evident in 2013, on India's 67th I-Day, when at Lalan College in Bhuj, in a 50-minute speech — in Hindi for the first time — he slammed the UPA for being a 'fire brigade government' that is selectively active.