India follows a
parliamentary system in which the prime minister is the presiding
head of the government and chief of the executive of the government. In such systems, the
head of state, or, the head of state's official representative (i.e., the monarch, president, or
governor-general) usually holds a purely ceremonial position and acts, on most matters, only on the advice of the prime minister. The prime minister must become a
member of parliament within six months of beginning their tenure, if they are not one already. A prime minister is expected to work with other central ministers to ensure the passage of bills by the parliament.
1947–1984 Since 1947, there have been 14 different prime ministers. The first few decades after 1947 saw the
Indian National Congress' (INC) near complete domination over the political map of India. India's first prime minister,
Jawaharlal Nehru, took oath on 15 August 1947. Nehru went on to serve as prime minister for 17 consecutive years, winning four
general elections in the process. His tenure ended in May 1964, on his death. After the death of Nehru,
Lal Bahadur Shastri, a former
home minister and a leader of the Congress party, ascended to the position of prime minister. Shastri's tenure saw the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Shashtri subsequently died of a reported heart attack in
Tashkent, after signing the
Tashkent Declaration. After Shastri,
Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter, was elected as the country's third prime minister. The first, and to date, the only, woman to hold the post, Indira's first term in office lasted 11 years, in which she took steps such as
nationalisation of banks; end of
allowances and political posts, which were received by members of the royal families of the erstwhile
princely states of the
British Indian Empire. In addition, events such as the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971; the establishment of a sovereign
Bangladesh; accession of
Sikkim to India, through a
referendum in 1975; and India's
first nuclear test in
Pokhran occurred during Indira's first term. In 1975, amid growing unrest and a court order declaring Indira's election to the Lok Sabha void, President
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, on Indira's advice, imposed a
state of emergency, therefore bestowing the government with the power to
rule by decree; this period is known for human rights violations such as mass sterilisation and the imprisonment of Indira's political opponents. After widespread protests, the emergency was lifted in 1977, and a
general election was held. All of the political parties of the opposition, after the conclusion of the emergency, fought together against the Congress, under the umbrella of the
Janata Party, in the
general election of 1977, and were successful in defeating the Congress. Subsequently,
Morarji Desai, a former
deputy prime minister, became the first non-Congress prime minister of India. Desai's government was composed of groups with opposite ideologies, in which unity and coordination were difficult to maintain. Ultimately, after two and a half years as PM; on 28 July 1979, Desai tendered his resignation to the president; and his government fell. Thereafter,
Charan Singh, a deputy prime minister in Desai's cabinet, with outside, conditional support from Congress, proved a majority in
Lok Sabha and took oath as prime minister. However, Congress pulled its support shortly after, and Singh had to resign; he had a tenure of 5 months, the shortest in the history of the office. In
1980, after a three-year absence, the Congress returned to power with an absolute majority. Indira Gandhi was elected prime minister a second time. In June 1984,
Operation Blue Star, an
Indian Army operation against
Sikh militants inside the
Golden Temple, the most sacred site in Sikhism, was conducted, resulting in reportedly thousands of deaths, both of the militants and civilians. In revenge, on 31 October of that year, Gandhi was shot dead by
Satwant Singh and
Beant Singh, two of her bodyguards, in the garden of her residence at 1,
Safdarjung Road, New Delhi.
1984–1999 After Indira,
Rajiv, her eldest son and 40 years old at the time, was sworn in on the evening of 31 October 1984, becoming the youngest person ever to hold the office of prime minister. Rajiv immediately called for a general election. In the subsequent
general election, the Congress secured a
supermajority, winning 401 of 552 seats in the
Lok Sabha, the maximum number received by any party in the history of India.
Vishwanath Pratap Singh, first
finance minister and then later
defence minister in Gandhi's cabinet, uncovered irregularities, in what became known as the
Bofors scandal, during his stint at the
Ministry of Defence; Singh was subsequently expelled from Congress and formed the
Janata Dal and, with the help of several anti-Congress parties, also formed the
National Front, a coalition of many political parties. In the
general election of 1989, the National Front, with outside support from the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the
Left Front, came to power.
V. P. Singh was elected prime minister. Singh's tenure came to an end after he ordered the arrest of BJP member
Lal Krishna Advani, as a result, BJP withdrew its outside support to the government, V. P. Singh lost the subsequent
vote-of-no-confidence 146–320 and had to resign. After V. P. Singh's resignation,
Chandra Shekhar along with 64
members of parliament (MPs) floated the
Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya), and proved a majority in the
Lok Sabha with support from Congress. But Shekhar's premiership did not last long, Congress proceeded to withdraw its support; Shekhar's government fell as a result, and
new elections were announced. Rajiv Gandhi
was assassinated on the campaign trail for the
general election of 1991, and the Congress, under the leadership of
P. V. Narasimha Rao, rode a sympathy wave to form a
minority government; Rao became the first PM of
South Indian origin. After the
dissolution of the Soviet Union, India was on the brink of
bankruptcy, so, Rao took steps to
liberalise the economy, and appointed
Manmohan Singh, an economist and a former
governor of the Reserve Bank of India, as finance minister. His premiership, however, was also a witness to the
demolition of the Babri Masjid, which resulted in the death of about 2,000 people. Rao, however, did complete five continuous years in office, becoming the first prime minister outside of the
Nehru—Gandhi family to do so. In response to these tests, many
western countries, including the United States, imposed
economic sanctions on India, but, due to the support received from Russia, France, the
Gulf countries and some other nations, the sanctions, were largely, not considered successful. A few months later in response to the Indian nuclear tests, Pakistan also
conducted nuclear tests. Given the deteriorating situation between the two countries, the governments tried to improve bilateral relations. In February 1999, India and Pakistan signed the
Lahore Declaration, in which the two countries announced their intention to annul mutual enmity, increase trade and use their nuclear capabilities for peaceful purposes. In May 1999,
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader
J. Jayalalithaa withdrew from the ruling
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition; Vajpayee's government, hence, became a
caretaker one after losing a motion-of-no-confidence 269–270, this coincided with the
Kargil War with Pakistan. In the subsequent
October 1999 general election, the BJP-led NDA and its affiliated parties secured a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha, winning 299 of 543 seats in the
lower house.
2000–present Vajpayee continued the process of economic liberalisation during his reign, resulting in economic growth. In addition to the development of infrastructure and basic facilities, the government took several steps to improve the infrastructure of the country, such as, the
National Highways Development Project (NHDP) and the
Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY;
IAST: ; Prime Minister Rural Road Scheme), for the development of roads. But during his reign, the
2002 Gujarat communal riots in the state of Gujarat took place; resulting in about 2,000 deaths. Vajpayee's tenure as prime minister came to an end in May 2004, making him the first non-Congress PM to complete a full five-year tenure. and Manmohan Singh was elected prime minister; becoming the first Sikh prime minister of the nation. Apart from this, the government succeeded in getting the
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, and the
Right to Information Act, 2005 passed in the parliament. Further, the government strengthened India's relations with nations like Afghanistan, Russia, the
Gulf States, and the United States, culminating with the ratification of
India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement near the end of Singh's first term. At the same time, the
November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks also happened during Singh's first term in office. In the
general election of 2009, the mandate of UPA increased. Prime Minister Singh's second term, however, was surrounded by accusations of high-level scandals and corruption. Singh resigned as prime minister on 17 May 2014, after Congress' defeat in the
2014 general election. In the
general election of 2014, the BJP-led NDA won an absolute majority, winning 336 out of 543 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP became the first party since 1984 to secure a majority in the Lok Sabha.
Narendra Modi, then the
Chief Minister of Gujarat, was elected prime minister, becoming the first prime minister to have been born in an independent India.
Narendra Modi was re-elected as prime minister in 2019 with a bigger mandate than that of 2014. The BJP-led
NDA won 354 seats out of which the
BJP secured 303 seats.
Party affiliation == Constitutional framework and position of Prime Minister ==