From discovery of India to trust in Bharat

Aspirations of and scrutiny by the people have gone up exponentially compared to Nehru’s times. Modi’s success lies in having measured up to these and sustaining a bond of trust with the people

- Ram Nath Kovind

June 10, 2026, marks a special occasion in the history of India after Independence. On that date Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi surpassed Jawahar Lal Nehru to become the longest continuously serving democratically elected PM of India.

Though a historic landmark in itself, PM Modi's being a tenure longer than that of Nehru does not capture the more important dimensions of what may be called the watershed period for India since Independence.

Since May 26, 2014, the course of Indian polity took a decisive turn towards Indian-ness of the kind advocated by Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Babasaheb BR Ambedkar, Rajendra Prasad, C Rajgopalachari, KM Munshi and several other architects of modern India who had reimagined the ancient Indian culture and civilisation with a deep sense of pride in its heritage and legacies. In the area of economic development, PM Modi has taken forward the model of Rajaji with inclusivity. Rajaji, as we know, was strongly critical of the “command and control” model of Nehruvian political economy which resulted in “quota, permit and licence raj”.