4 min readJun 5, 2026 05:56 PM IST
First published on: Jun 5, 2026 at 05:55 PM IST
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will soon cross another milestone by becoming the longest continuously serving elected PM. On June 10, he will complete 4,399 consecutive days in office, overtaking Jawaharlal Nehru’s record of 4,398 days after the first general election. He will also have crossed 9,000 days in office as an elected head of government by then, including his 13-year stint as Gujarat CM — overtaking CMs like Pawan Chamling (Sikkim) and Naveen Patnaik (Odisha). Come October, Modi will complete 25 years in public office. He is also the longest-serving non-Congress PM, and the first non-Congress PM to lead majority governments twice. In total, Modi has led the BJP to victory in six consecutive elections — three to the state assembly and three to Parliament. He is also Gujarat’s longest-serving CM.
These data points, however, are only one side of the story. Quite a few substantive issues distinguish Modi’s rise from that of his predecessors. A comparison with Nehru is inevitable because Nehru was the only other dominant leader in post-Independence India. His rise in politics was primarily due to his involvement in the freedom movement and support from M K Gandhi. The controversy over his selection as Congress president and PM of the interim government in 1946 is well known. Twelve of 15 provincial Congress committees recommended Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. None proposed Nehru. Yet Gandhi preferred “glamorous Nehru”, in Rajendra Prasad’s words.
More importantly, the Congress party of the Independence movement was a platform for all nationalists to come together to secure freedom. That’s why, in his “Last Will and Testament”, published in Harijan, Gandhi said Congress as a “parliamentary machine” had “outlived its use”, and recommended disbanding “the existing Congress organisation”. But instead, Congress under Nehru went to the people during the first general election as the “party of freedom” and reaped a rich harvest. That tag led to an uneven competition providing undue electoral advantage to Congress in the years right after Independence.
Like every PM, Nehru has achievements to his credit. Admirers credit him with India’s initial years of industrialisation, infrastructure development and institution-building. But critics argue his obsession with the “socialist pattern of society” did more harm than good. Between 1955 and 1965, India’s poverty rate grew from 52.66 per cent to 58.60 per cent. The number of poor people grew from 198.7 million in 1951-55 to 301.7 million in 1966-70. Nehru’s tenure saw scams like the jeep scandal (1948), the Mundhra scandal (1957-58), and the Dharma Teja shipping loan scam (1960). He was regarded as an expert on foreign policy, yet his tenure saw non-alignment fail to achieve its objectives, and a humiliating defeat at China’s hands.
Modi’s rise is the antithesis of Nehru’s, with no godfather like Gandhi. He came from very humble beginnings and rose through the committed ideological ranks of the Hindu cultural-nationalist movement. During his 25 years in public office, Modi has offered clean governance, and through a singular focus on development, earned the title of vikas purush. Modi has proved more successful in managing the economy and foreign policy than Nehru and others. GDP doubled over the past decade, absolute poverty was virtually eradicated, and almost 25 crore people were lifted out of multidimensional poverty. In foreign policy, through the effective implementation of strategic autonomy and multi-alignment, India has emerged as an important pole in the multipolar order.
Modi will undoubtedly be remembered as India’s most effective and successful PM. He is midway through his third term, yet his dominance over the political landscape remains towering and unchallenged. He is certain to break more records as he continues to lead India for many more years to come. But it is not just the numbers that distinguish him. It is the quality of governance, the ideological vision and effective development agenda that he brings to the table that make him the shining star of Indian politics.
The writer, president, India Foundation, is with the BJP
Born to parents of modest means, Modi worked as a tea vendor in Vadnagar, Gujarat, assisting his father. To travel from there to the PM’s office in South Block in the national capital is an extraordinary achievement 
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