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PM Modi Becomes Longest-Serving Non-Congress Prime Minister

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NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday became the fourth-longest serving Prime Minister of India surpassing Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure. The feat also makes PM Modi the country’s longest-serving Prime Minister not from the Congress. The prime minister, on August 13, surpassed the tenure of 2,268 days that Vajpayee had clocked in his three terms combined.

Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Manmohan Singh – all from the Congress – are the three longest-serving Prime Ministers in that order.

Vajpayee served three terms as prime minister of India. He was first elected as PM in 1996 and was in office for 13 days between May 16 and June 1. His second stint came in 1998, when he served as PM for 13 months between March 1998 and April 1999. This was followed by a five-year term between 1999 and 2004.

Among India’s other non-Congress prime ministers were Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, V.P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar, H.D. Deve Gowda and Inder Kumar Gujral, none of whom completed a full term in office.

India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who assumed office on August 15, 1947, stayed in the seat till May 27, 1964, a total of 6,130 days or almost 17 years.

His daughter Indira Gandhi was the second longest-serving PM of India, holding office for almost 11 years. She first assumed office on January 24, 1966, and continued till March 24, 1977. She returned as PM on January 14, 1980, and continued till her assassination on October 31, 1984. She was in the office for 5,829 days.

Manmohan Singh was in office for a decade, between May 22, 2004, and May 26, 2014, a total of 3,656 days.

Sworn into his second term in May 2019, PM Modi towers over India’s electioneering politics and much of the country’s political discourse.

In 2014, the Modi-led BJP decimated all opposition and swept the election, becoming the first party to win a majority in over three decades.

Before moving to New Delhi, PM Modi served as the Chief Minister of his home state Gujarat for 13 years since 2001.

Narendra Damodardas Modi:

Born in Vadnagar in northern Gujarat, PM Modi, in his teens, sold tea – a part of his life that would take on immense significance at a critical turn of his political career.

Known as a strong debater in school, he was barely in his teens when he joined the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student outfit linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological mentor of the BJP.

When eight years old, Modi discovered the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and began attending its local shakhas (training sessions). There, Modi met Lakshmanrao Inamdar, popularly known as Vakil Saheb, who inducted him as a Bal Swayamsevak (junior cadet) in the RSS and became his political mentor.

While Modi was training with the RSS, he also met Vasant Gajendragadkar and Nathalal Jaghda, Bharatiya Jana Sangh leaders who were founding members of the BJP’s Gujarat unit in 1980.

Modi travelled around India for two years and visited a number of religious centres before returning to Gujarat. In 1971 he became a full-time worker for the RSS.

In interviews, Modi has described visiting Hindu ashrams founded by Swami Vivekananda: the Belur Math near Kolkata, followed by the Advaita Ashrama in Almora and the Ramakrishna Mission in Rajkot. Modi remained only a short time at each, since he lacked the required college education.

Vivekananda has been described as a large influence in Modi’s life.

In the early summer of 1968, Modi reached the Belur Math but was turned away, after which Modi travelled through Calcutta, West Bengal and Assam, stopping in Siliguri and Guwahati.

Modi returned to Vadnagar for a brief visit before leaving again for Ahmedabad. There, Modi lived with his uncle, working in the latter’s canteen at the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation.

In Ahmedabad, Modi renewed his acquaintance with Inamdar, who was based at the Hedgewar Bhavan (RSS headquarters) in the city.

After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, he stopped working for his uncle and became a full-time Pracharak (campaigner) for the RSS, working under Inamdar.

Shortly before the war, Modi took part in a non-violent protest against the Indian government in New Delhi, for which he was arrested; this has been cited as a reason for Inamdar electing to mentor him. Many years later Modi would co-author a biography of Inamdar, published in 2001.

During the state of emergency imposed across the country in 1975, Modi was forced to go into hiding.

The RSS assigned him to the BJP in 1985 and he held several positions within the party hierarchy until 2001, rising to the rank of general secretary.

At 18, PM Modi’s parents arranged his wedding. He left home soon after. In 1971, he joined the RSS. During the Emergency of 1975-77, when then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi jailed several political opponents and severely restricted fundamental rights, PM Modi went into hiding and wrote a book.

He was assigned by the RSS to the BJP in 1985 and held several posts until he replaced Keshubhai Patel as Gujarat Chief Minister in 2001.

Modi was appointed Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001 due to Keshubhai Patel’s failing health and poor public image following the earthquake in Bhuj. Modi was elected to the legislative assembly soon after.

Partisan Reactions:

The milestone, predictably, has earned effusive praise from the BJP:

“He might have broken the previous record, but the new record that he will end up creating will remain unmatched in the Indian political history. The kind of stable government he has given speaks volume,” said Rajiv Pratap Rudy, a senior BJP leader.

Congress leader Shakti Singh Gohil, though, dismissed Modi’s record tenure to say it wasn’t the duration that mattered but the achievements.



from League of India

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