How did this ‘record’ get talked about?Ram Madhav, RSS veteran, a powerful force in the Modi government for some time, wrote in his column on June 6 in the Indian Express, “On June 10, Modi would be completing 4,399 days in office uninterruptedly as prime minister overtaking Jawaharlal Nehru’s record of 4,398 days.”Is this a ‘record’?One where several conditions apply.It is not a record if you see the entire time that Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first and illustrious premier, spent in office. Nehru spent over 6,000 days as prime minister and died in harness.As Aakar Patel wrote, “It is unclear how Ram Madhav arrived at this number because Nehru was in office for over 6,000 days, from August 15, 1947 till May 27, 1964, the day he died.”This adds up to 16 years, 9 months in office for him as prime minister.Ram Madhav, RSS loyalist, decided to subtract about 2,000 days from Nehru’s term by nixing the first PM’s time at the crease during a particularly difficult time for India – 1947 to 1952. Why? Record-making was possible for Modi only if those vital years were taken out.“Uninterrupted”Ram Madhav subtracted from Nehru’s time plus he added the word “uninterruptedly” to Modi’s term in a bid to create this record. Perhaps he wanted to ensure that Indira Gandhi did not overtake the incumbent on the ‘days spent as PM’ chart.Even last year, the BJP made an unseemly social-media tamasha about Modi crossing Indira Gandhi’s days in office.But India’s other long-staying prime minister (Indira Gandhi) spent almost 6,000 days in office; over 15 years, 11 months.“Elected” prime ministerA point made by the leading opposition party is that Nehru won elections in 1952, 1957 and 1962 “with a hugely decisive majority”.If Ram Madhav was getting picky about Nehru not being ‘elected’ formally, as he was in 1952, 1957 and 1962, then he would have noted that Modi, to quote Congress MP and former Union minister Jairam Ramesh, “did NOT secure even a simple majority by a considerable margin in 2024 and had to hurriedly convene an NDA meeting, bypassing the BJP Parliamentary Party, to anoint himself as PM.”Ramesh writes that “2024 was most certainly not a mandate for Him.”What is BJP doing on Modi’s 4,399th day?Most ministers were caught in temples by TV cameras, offering prayers.On its Facebook account, BJP wrote, “Three consecutive terms. 12 years of service. And now, the longest-serving elected Prime Minister in consecutive terms. PM Modi is here to fix decades of decay.”It’s possible other nations’ embassies were also asked to note on their social media accounts how Modi was now “the longest serving PM”.All India Radio was too overwhelmed to write the full sentence in its notification sent earlier in the day.In two places an earlier version of this story erroneously said 4,699 days instead of 4,399 days.