NEW DELHI: Come June 10 PM Narendra Modi will have the distinction of having the longest unbroken stint as an elected head of govt, surpassing Jawaharlal Nehru after discounting the first term of the Congress stalwart before India held its maiden general election in 1951-52.Since he led BJP to its maiden majority in Lok Sabha and took oath as PM May 26, 2014 and June 10 this year, Modi will be in office for 4,399 days, edging past Nehru’s 4,398 from May 13,1952 till his death in harness on May 27, 1964.Nehru’s daughter Indira Gandhi had an unbroken stint in office for 4,077 days between Jan 24, 1966 and Mar 24, 1977.The lodestar of “secular consensus” named after him, Nehru continued to shape Indian politics for decades after his death until the arrival of Modi, who has rewritten political grammar using a blend of development and cultural nationalism imbued with Hindutva, and both leaders could not be more different in their personal journey and political beliefs.Modi has been a trenchant critic of Nehru and has constantly argued that he was an imposed choice and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel would be the first PM as he was nominated by 12 of the 15 state committees, according to several historical accounts. With Mahatma Gandhi, the revered leader of the freedom movement, favouring Nehru, Patel withdrew and agreed to be his deputy.That Nehru led Congress in an era where it was seen as a vehicle of independence struggle and thus a natural choice for governance with little nation-wide opposition to speak of is something that has been emphasised by BJP functionaries and acknowledged by independent commentators. Modi, they note, rose in a deeply contested political environment and fought against odds to first win three successive assembly elections in Gujarat as CM, and then rallied his party against the governing Congress-led UPA to storm to power with a clear majority, a first for BJP, and reducing Congress to its worst every tally.Modi’s tenure has been marked by the repeal of Article 370, abolition of triple talaq, and construction of Ram temple, approved by Supreme Court, could not have been possible under Nehru.
