By   — Shyamal Sinha

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday became the fourth longest-serving Prime Minister in Indian history, after Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Dr Manmohan Singh.

However, PM Modi is the first longest-serving Indian prime minister of non-Congress origin, surpassing Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Narendra Modi took oath as the 14th Prime Minister of the country on May 26, 2014. He started with his second innings as the PM again on May 30, 2019.

Jawaharlal Nehru remains the longest-serving prime minister of India so far. His tenure lasted for around 17 years, followed by his daughter Indira Gandhi who served two terms of little more 11 years and nearly five years respectively. Dr Manmohan Singh served two consecutive terms of five years each.

The other non-Congress prime ministers who could not complete their tenure included Morarji Desai (March 24, 1977 — July 28, 1979), Charan Singh (July 28, 1979 — January 14, 1980), Vishwanath Pratap Singh (December 2, 1989 — November 10, 1990), Chandra Shekhar (November 10, 1990 — June 21, 1991), H.D. Deve Gowda (June 1, 1996 — April 21, 1997) and Inder Kumar Gujral (April 21, 1997 — March 19, 1998).

Narendra Modi has become the fourth longest-serving prime minister just two days ahead of India’s 74th Independence Day. On August 15 he will deliver his seventh Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

Under PM Modi’s leadership, the BJP-led NDA government has ushered an era of inclusive and development-oriented governance, catering to the aspirations of the farmer, the poor, marginalised, youth, women and neo-middle class. He has introduced many schemes since 2014 and taken major decisions leading India on a new path of development and progress. He started the Make In India and Digital India and implemented the Goods and Services Tax (GST). He also started the Pradhan Mantri Yojna, Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan and Beti Bachao Beti Padhao projects.