President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has sent a congratulatory message to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who on Wednesday (June 10) crossed 4,399 days in office to become India’s longest continuously serving elected premier, surpassing the record held by the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
“This milestone is a testament not only to your years in office, but also to the trust and confidence that the people of the world’s largest democracy have repeatedly placed in your leadership,” President Dissanayake said in his letter, expressing confidence that bilateral relations would continue to grow.
Modi has held the office continuously since being first sworn in on May 26, 2014 following a landslide victory by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and was re-elected with a larger mandate in 2019 and a third term in 2024. Nehru served from independence in 1947 until his death in 1964. Indira Gandhi, India’s first woman Prime Minister, served close to 16 years across two separate stints.
BJP president Nitin Nabin marked the day by claiming the government’s 12-year record included lifting more than 250 million people out of poverty, distributing 40 million permanent houses, 570 million Mudra loans and constructing 120 million toilets, alongside record defence exports worth ₹38,400 crore.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju told a party event the 4,399 days would be “etched in golden letters” as the period India took its first steps toward “Viksit Bharat” — a developed India. The address was attended by senior cabinet members including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, JP Nadda, Dharmendra Pradhan, Piyush Goyal and Ashwini Vaishnaw.
The message lands amid an active Indo-Sri Lankan political calendar. Modi has recently pressed a domestic fuel-conservation drive citing West Asia oil-price risks, imposed work-from-home and foreign-travel austerity measures on his cabinet, and on June 2 received Tamil Nadu Chief Minister-elect Vijay in Delhi, where the SL fishermen file featured in talks.
Update — June 11 Modi response
Modi publicly acknowledged the Sri Lankan President’s congratulatory message in a post on social media the following day, NewsFirst reported. “Thank you, President Dissanayake, for your warm wishes. India deeply values its enduring friendship with Sri Lanka and remains committed to advancing our special and multifaceted partnership,” the Indian Prime Minister wrote, framing the bilateral relationship around the shared democratic and civilisational links highlighted in the earlier exchange. The reply confirms the Modi camp’s continued public emphasis on the SL relationship through the milestone, even as the Indo-Lankan calendar fills with operational files including India-led grant programmes, post-cyclone recovery and the fisheries portfolio.
