Narendra Modi surpasses Indira Gandhi's record, becomes India's second-longest serving Prime Minister

NEW DELHI: Narendra Modi has completed 4,078 days as Prime Minister, surpassing the record held by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Indira Gandhi had served for 4,077 consecutive days, from January 24, 1966, to March 24, 1977. With this milestone, Modi has now become the second-longest-serving Prime Minister in India’s history. The longest tenure remains that of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Previously, the third place was held by former Congress leader Manmohan Singh.

During his tenure, Narendra Modi has achieved several historic milestones. He is the only Prime Minister born after India’s independence, the longest‑serving non‑Congress Prime Minister, and the longest‑serving Prime Minister from a non‑Hindi‑speaking state. Before becoming Prime Minister in 2014, Modi served as Chief Minister of Gujarat for 12.5 years, from 2001 to 2014.

He is also the first sitting Prime Minister since Indira Gandhi in 1971 to return to power with a full majority. After Jawaharlal Nehru, Modi is the only leader to win three consecutive general elections as the head of a single political party. In fact, among both Prime Ministers and Chief Ministers, he is the only leader in India to have won six consecutive elections as party leader — three in Gujarat (2002, 2007, 2012) and three in the Lok Sabha polls (2014, 2019, 2024).

Born into a humble family in Vadnagar, Gujarat, Modi helped his father, who sold tea at a railway station, before joining the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and later becoming active in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).