| Prime Minister of India भारत के प्रधान मंत्री | |
|---|---|
.svg) | |
 | |
| Prime Minister's Office | |
| Style |
|
| Type | Head of government |
| Status | Leader of the Executive |
| Abbreviation | PM |
| Member of |
|
| Reports to | |
| Residence | 7, Lok Kalyan Marg,New Delhi,Delhi,India |
| Seat | Prime Minister's Office, South Block, Central Secretariat, Raisina Hill,New Delhi,Delhi,India |
| Nominator | Lok Sabha Members |
| Appointer | President by convention, based on appointee's ability tocommand confidence in theLok Sabha |
| Term length | At the pleasure of the President Lok Sabha term is 5 years unless dissolved sooner No term limits specified |
| Constituting instrument | Articles 74 and 75,Constitution of India |
| Precursor | Vice President of the Executive Council |
| Formation | 15 August 1947;78 years ago (1947-08-15) |
| First holder | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Deputy | Deputy Prime Minister |
| Salary | |
| Website | Prime Minister Of India |
Theprime minister of India (Hindi:भारत के प्रधान मंत्री,romanised: Bhārat kē Pradamuntri) is thechief executive officer of theGovernment of India. The prime minister leads the executive branch of the union government and chairs the Council of Ministers. It is the third highest office of political authority in theRepublic of India.
The prime minister is appointed by thepresident of India; however the prime minister has to enjoy the confidence of the majority of Lok Sabha members, who aredirectly elected every five years, lest the prime minister shall resign. The prime minister can be a member of the Lok Sabha or of theRajya Sabha, the upper house of the parliament. The prime minister unilaterally controls the selection and dismissal of members of the Council of Minister; and allocation of posts to members within the government. The council, which is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha as perArticle 75(3), assists the president regarding the operations under the latter's powers; however, by the virtue ofArticle 74 of theConstitution, such 'aid and advice' tendered by the council isbinding. The prime minister ranks third in the Indian order of precedence.
The longest-serving prime minister wasJawaharlal Nehru, also the first prime minister, whose rule lasted 16 years and 286 days. His premiership was followed byLal Bahadur Shastri's short tenure andIndira Gandhi's 11- and 4-year-long tenures, both politicians belonging to theIndian National Congress. After Indira Gandhi'sassassination, her sonRajiv took charge until 1989, when a decade with six unstable governments began. This was followed by the full terms ofAtal Bihari Vajpayee,Manmohan Singh, andNarendra Modi, the current prime minister since 26 May 2014.
India follows aparliamentary system in which the prime minister is the presidinghead of the government and chief of the executive of the government. In such systems, thehead 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—if they are not already—must become a member of parliament within six months of beginning his/her tenure. A prime minister is expected to work with other central ministers to ensure the passage of bills by the parliament.
Since 1947, there have been 14 different prime ministers.[a] The first few decades after 1947 saw theIndian National Congress' (INC) almost 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.[2][3] After the death of Nehru,Lal Bahadur Shastri—a formerhome minister and a leader of the Congress party—ascended to the position of prime minister. Shastri's tenure saw theIndo-Pakistani War of 1965. Shashtri subsequently died of a reported heart attack inTashkent, after signing the Tashkent Declaration.[4]After Shastri,Indira Gandhi—Nehru's daughter—was elected as the country's first woman prime minister. Indira's first term in office lasted 11 years, in which she took steps such as nationalisation of banks;[5] end of allowances and political posts, which were received by members of the royal families of the erstwhile princely states of British India.[6] In addition, events such as theIndo-Pakistani War of 1971;[7] the establishment of a sovereignBangladesh;[8] accession ofSikkim to India, through a referendum in 1975;[9] and India's first nuclear test in Pokhran occurred during Indira's first term. In 1975, PresidentFakhruddin Ali Ahmed—on Indira's advice—imposed a state of emergency, therefore, bestowing the government with the power to rule by decree, the period is known for human right violations.[10][11]After widespread protests, the emergency was lifted in 1977, and a general election was to be held.
All of the political parties of the opposition—after the conclusion of the emergency—fought together against the Congress, under the umbrella of theJanata Party, in the general election of 1977, and were successful in defeating the Congress. Subsequently,Morarji Desai—a formerdeputy prime minister—became the first non-Congress prime minister of India. The government of prime minister Desai was composed of groups with opposite ideologies, in which unity and co-ordination were difficult to maintain. Ultimately, after two and a half years as PM; on 28 July 1979, Morarji 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 inLok Sabha and took oath as prime minister.[12][13] 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 Indian general election, after a three-year absence, the Congress returned to power with an absolute majority. Indira Gandhi was elected prime minister a second time.[14] During her second tenure, Operation Blue Star—anIndian Army operation inside theGolden Temple, the most sacred site inSikhism—was conducted, resulting in reportedly thousands of deaths.[15] Subsequently, on 31 October 1984, 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.[16]
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 an absolute majority, winning 401 of 552 seats in theLok Sabha, the maximum number received by any party in the history of India.[17][18]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.[19]In the general election of 1989, the National Front—with outside support from theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left Front—came to power.[20]V. P. Singh was elected prime minister.[20] During a tenure of less than a year, Singh and his government accepted the Mandal Commission's recommendations.[21] Singh's tenure came to an end after he ordered the arrest of BJP memberLal Krishna Advani,[22] as a result, BJP withdrew its outside support to the government, V. P. Singh lost the subsequentvote-of-no-confidence 146–320 and had to resign.[23] After V. P. Singh's resignation,Chandra Shekhar along with 64 members of parliament (MPs) floated the Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya),[24] and proved a majority in theLok Sabha with support from Congress.[25] 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.[26]In the general election of 1991, Congress—under the leadership ofP. V. Narasimha Rao—formed a minority government; Rao became the first PM ofSouth Indian origin.[27] After thedissolution of the Soviet Union, India was on the brink of bankruptcy, so, Rao took steps to liberalise the economy, and appointedManmohan Singh—an economist and a former governor of the Reserve Bank of India—as finance minister.[27] Rao and Singh then took various steps to liberalise the economy,[27] these resulted in an unprecedented economic growth in India.[28] His premiership, however, was also a witness to the demolition of the Babri Masjid, which resulted in the death of about 2,000 people.[29] Rao, however, did complete five continuous years in office, becoming the first prime minister outside of the Nehru—Gandhi family to do so.[27]
After the end of Rao's tenure in May 1996, the nation saw four prime ministers in a span of three years,viz., two tenures ofAtal Bihari Vajpayee; one tenure ofH. D. Deve Gowda from 1 June 1996 to 21 April 1997; and one tenure ofI. K. Gujral from 21 April 1997 to 19 March 1998. The government of Prime Minister Vajpayee—elected in 1998—took some concrete steps. In May 1998—after a month in power—the government announced the conduct of five underground nuclear explosions in Pokhran.[30] In response to these tests, manywestern countries, including the United States, imposedeconomic sanctions on India,[31] but, due to the support received from Russia, France, theGulf countries and some other nations, the sanctions—were largely—not considered successful.[32][33] A few months later in response to the Indian nuclear tests, Pakistan also conducted nuclear tests.[34] Given the deteriorating situation between the two countries, the governments tried to improve bilateral relations. In February 1999, the 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.[35] In May 1999,All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam withdrew from the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition;[36] Vajpayee's government, hence, became a caretaker one after losing a motion-of-no-confidence 269–270, this coincided with theKargil War with Pakistan.[37] 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 thelower house.[38]
The Prime Minister is responsible in aiding the President in his/her work relating to the government. The Prime Minister, in consultation with the Cabinet, schedules and attends the sessions of the Houses of Parliament and is required to answer the question from the Members of Parliament.
Some specific ministries/department are not allocated to anyone in the cabinet but the Prime Minister himself. The Prime Minister is usually always in-charge/head of:
The Prime Minister also represents the country in various international meetings, conferences and organizations.
A Prime Minister must be:
Oath of office:
I, <name>, do swear in the name of God/solemnly affirm that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India, that I will faithfully and conscientiously discharge my duties as prime minister for the Union and that I will do right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution and the law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.
— Constitution of India, Third Schedule, Part I
Oath of secrecy:
I, <name>, do swear in the name of God/solemnly affirm that I will not directly or indirectly communicate or reveal to any person or persons any matter which shall be brought under my consideration or shall become known to me as Prime Minister for the Union except as may be required for the due discharge of my duties as such Minister.
— Constitution of India, Third Schedule, Part II
As of December 2024, there is one living former prime minister of India:
