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From Ram Madhav to Apollo Tyres, the newspapers are replete with congratulations to Prime Minister Modi for having served 4,399 days, breaking the record of our first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who, it is claimed, served for 4,398 days.

Having read since our school days that Nehru was prime minister for 17 years, from 1947 to 1964, I was naturally sceptical about this claim that Modi had broken Nehru’s record, given that Modi has been prime minister for three terms, about 12 years.

The flawed mathematics can be understood in light of the cut-off date, 1952, set after the first general elections. The eventful first five years from 1947 to 1952 are axed, apparently because Nehru was not elected to his post. Indeed, the eventful year from September 2, 1946 to August 15, 1947 was conveniently dropped, the year when Nehru assumed the position of Vice President of the Executive Council and, in effect, served as prime minister.

Clearly, it is absurd to expect Nehru to have been an elected PM in today’s sense of the term in 1946 and 1947, when the franchise was limited to 14% and, significantly, the Centre under the Government of India Act of 1935 was not in operation.

The first general elections, as they are held today, could not be held until the Constitution of India was prepared and promulgated, which did not occur until 1950. Even Indian independence was legally formalised under the Government of India Act of 1935.

Indeed, the Government of India Act of 1935 served as a transitional constitutional arrangement till the Constitution of India was adopted. Political pragmatism prevailed in the Congress party’s decision to go ahead and accept the transfer of power under the Indian Independence Bill to two dominions, despite having moved on about two decades ago from the demand for dominion status to complete independence.

Why then was Nehru, and not, say, Rajaji, invited to join what came to be the interim government?

There were two........

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