New Delhi, October 6, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has completed 25 years in uninterrupted executive office, marking a milestone that places him among a relatively small group of political leaders worldwide to have spent a quarter-century or more continuously at the helm of government.
Modi’s journey began on October 7, 2001, when he took oath as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. He later became Prime Minister in 2014 and has remained in office since then. The Prime Minister’s Office has also described October 7, 2001, as the beginning of his 25th year as head of a government.
In India, Modi’s tenure has crossed the record of former Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling, who served continuously from December 1994 to May 2019. Other Indian chief ministers with exceptionally long tenures include Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik, who served from March 2000 to June 2024, and West Bengal’s Jyoti Basu, who was chief minister from June 1977 to November 2000.
Patnaik’s 24-year tenure was marked by a political career spanning multiple electoral victories, while Basu’s 23-year tenure was associated with the Left Front government’s land reforms and emphasis on rural development.
Globally, Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew remains among the prominent examples of long-serving democratic leaders. He served as prime minister from June 1959 to November 1990, a period of more than 31 years.
Cambodia’s Hun Sen served as prime minister from 1985 to 2023, while Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad served two separate terms as prime minister, from 1981 to 2003 and again from 2018 to 2020. Russia’s Vladimir Putin has also held executive office as president and prime minister for a cumulative period exceeding two decades.
Other leaders with lengthy tenures include Germany’s Helmut Kohl and Angela Merkel, while China’s Xi Jinping has served as President since 2013 and as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China since 2012.
What distinguishes Modi’s 25-year tenure in the Indian context is that it has spanned both state and national governments and continued through successive electoral mandates in the world’s largest democracy.
Modi has described his continuing political journey as being linked to the goal of building a “Viksit Bharat”. The Union Cabinet has also marked the milestone, passing a resolution congratulating him on 25 years of continuous leadership as head of government.
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