Italian PM Giorgia Meloni Congratulates PM Narendra Modi On Historic Milestone As India’s Longest-Serving Elected Prime Minister

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he became India's longest-serving democratically elected prime minister, marking a significant milestone in the country's political history.

Meloni shared her congratulatory message on X, praising Modi's achievement and highlighting the growing partnership between India and Italy.

"Congratulations to PM Narendra Modi who today becomes the longest-serving elected Prime Minister in the history of India. It has been a pleasure to meet again in Rome in recent weeks and to launch together a Special Strategic Partnership that looks to the future to create new opportunities for our Nations and our peoples," she wrote.

Modi surpasses Nehru's record

Prime Minister Modi crossed the milestone on Tuesday, completing 4,399 consecutive days in office and surpassing the tenure of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.

Modi first took office on May 26, 2014, after leading the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to a decisive victory in the general elections. He returned to power with an even larger mandate in 2019 and began his second term on May 30 of that year. Following the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Modi was sworn in for a third consecutive term on June 9, 2024.

Strengthening India-Italy ties

Meloni's message comes weeks after Modi visited Italy as part of the final leg of his five-nation diplomatic tour. During the visit, the two leaders announced a Special Strategic Partnership aimed at expanding cooperation in areas including trade, technology, defence and innovation.

The meeting also drew attention online for a light-hearted exchange between the two leaders. Meloni shared a video on social media showing Modi presenting her with a packet of Melody toffee.

As shown in the video above, Meloni humorously talked about the gifts and expressed gratitude to the Indian Prime Minister, resulting in both of them laughing about the incident. As a result, the video went viral almost instantly as people made several 'Melodi' memes. These are puns on both Modi and Meloni's names that keep trending when the two leaders meet on any international platform.

Gifts symbolised India's cultural legacy

In addition to Melody toffees, Modi also gave Meloni two hand-woven silk scarfs from Northeast India. The two stoles given to Meloni were a Muga silk scarf from Assam and a Shirui Lily silk stole from Manipur.

Published on: Wednesday, June 10, 2026, 01:17 PM IST