‘He gave up comfort… to serve’: Modi breaks 8,930-day record to become India's longest-serving head of Govt

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become the longest-serving head of government in Indian history, surpassing a record that had stood in the name of former Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling for years. On Sunday (22 March), PM Modi's cumulative tally of days in office, spanning his tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat and subsequently as Prime Minister of India, crossed 8,931 days, edging past Chamling's mark of 8,930. From Gujarat's Earthquake Rubble to Three Lok Sabha Victories Narendra Modi assumed the office of Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001 at a moment of acute crisis, the state was still reeling from a catastrophic earthquake, had endured the impact of a super cyclone, faced successive droughts, and was mired in political instability. Reflecting on that period, Modi had said it has been his constant endeavour to improve the lives of people and contribute to national progress, noting that he assumed office during "very testing circumstances." Gujarat, he has argued, moved during his tenure from being drought-prone and economically strained to becoming a "powerhouse of good governance," registering significant progress across agriculture, industry, and infrastructure. By the time Modi was named his party's prime ministerial candidate in 2013, amid what he described as a "crisis of trust and governance" at the national level, his Gujarat record had become both his calling card and his most contested legacy. The voters of India delivered a decisive mandate in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and have done so again in 2019 and 2024, making Modi the first Prime Minister to lead his party to three consecutive parliamentary majorities and the first Prime Minister born after Indian Independence.