New DelhiJul 25, 2025 14:33 IST
First published on: Jul 25, 2025 at 14:33 IST
HAVING completed 11 years and 60 days as Prime Minister on Friday, Narendra Modi surpassed Indira Gandhi to have the second longest uninterrupted tenure as PM in India. Modi now trails only Jawaharlal Nehru, who held the post for 16 years and 286 days after becoming the first PM of independent India.
While both Nehru and Indira were PMs for four terms each, Nehru held the post continuously from 1947 until his death in 1964. Indira’s tenure was interrupted by the post-Emergency elections, which saw the Janata Party oust the Congress to come to power. Indira served continuously from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 until her assassination in 1984, bringing her total tenure to just short of 16 years.
The two Congress leaders are still at least one full term ahead of Modi in terms of their overall tenures. Modi would have to complete his third term as PM and win a fourth term in 2029 if he is to surpass Nehru’s record. However, he is ahead of Indira in terms of election wins, having equalled Nehru’s record of three successive Lok Sabha victories.
Modi, however, already holds several records as an elected official. He is the first person born after Independence to become PM and is the longest serving elected head of a government, adding up to almost 24 years if one counts his stint as Chief Minister of Gujarat. Modi first became CM in 2001, and held the post continuously until becoming the PM in 2014.
Modi is also the only non-Congress leader to complete two full terms as the PM. Before him, Atal Bihar Vajpayee, also of the BJP, served for just over six years, but this was spread out over three terms. Others such as Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Chandra Shekhar, I K Gujral and H D Deve Gowda had short tenures.
In fact, only one other leader who is a non-Gandhi has completed two full terms as PM apart from Modi, and that was Manmohan Singh of the Congress.
By the time Modi ends his current term, he will be among the oldest Indian PMs, at 79 years old. Only Morarji Desai, 82 when his term ended in 1979, and Manmohan Singh, 81 when his government lost power in 2014, were older.