Pawan Kumar Chamling was the Chief Minister of Sikkim for 24 years.
Nitish Kumar is once again going to take oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar. This will be his 10th oath as CM, but despite this he will not be able to break the record of Pawan Kumar Chamling, who has been the longest serving Chief Minister of the country. Let us understand in the name of Nitish Kumar, who is going to take oath as the CM of Bihar for the 10th time, who holds the record of remaining CM in the country for the longest period? He was the CM of which state? When and how did he make his political debut? We will also know who were or are the top 10 CMs of the country who ruled for the longest period?
Former Chief Minister of Sikkim, Pawan Kumar Chamling is a leader with a unique record in Indian politics. He is the longest serving Chief Minister of India so far. He was the Chief Minister of Sikkim continuously from 12 December 1994 to 26 May 2019. His total tenure has been 24 years 165 days. No one has been able to break this record till now.
How did a farmer’s son become the voice of the people?
Pawan Kumar Chamling was born on 22 September 1950 in an ordinary rural family in the southern part of Sikkim. Farmer family, limited resources; Since childhood, he had a direct encounter with farming, hill life and the difficulties of common people. His formal education was limited, but he was self-educated and had a deep interest in literature and social politics. He was also a well-known poet of Nepali language, he authored many books and poems.
Pawan Kumar Chamling was also a well-known poet of Nepali language.
He made his mark there and then entered politics. Pawan Chamling started politics with mass movements. He went from village to village working among farmers, youth and unemployed people. He continued to raise his voice against corruption, unemployment and lack of development.
When did you reach the assembly for the first time?
He became a member of the Sikkim Legislative Assembly for the first time in the 1980s. Despite being in power, he started raising questions on corruption and politics that had distanced itself from the people. This conflict later pushed him towards forming his own separate party. Then in the year 1993, he founded Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF).
This party emerged with the slogan of stability, development and peace. By making the protection of language, culture, environment and identity of the small hilly state of Sikkim an agenda, he connected the youth and villagers with him. The 1994 assembly elections proved decisive for his party. On the basis of heavy campaigning, public meetings, walking tours and village-to-village contacts, he gave a tough challenge to the then ruling leadership.
When I became CM for the first time, there was no looking back.
On 12 December 1994, he became the Chief Minister of Sikkim for the first time. It was from here that his record breaking journey began. After 1994, his party won five consecutive assembly elections and he became the Chief Minister every time. It was not easy to remain in power for more than 24 years in a small hilly state. Behind this, improvement in road, education, health and tourism infrastructure, relatively calm politics and personality-based leadership are believed to play a major role.
Nitish Kumar.
Will Nitish Kumar be able to break Pawan Kumar’s record?
According to time, Nitish Kumar is at 8th place. Above them are those leaders whose total tenure is around 20 years or more. This means that Nitish Kumar is among the top 10 leaders of the country who have been CM for the longest time. Pawan Kumar Chamling is at number one and Nitish is still far behind his record. Despite completing his tenure starting from November 20, under normal circumstances it is not possible for him to reach Pawan Kumar Chamling’s record.
Nitish Kumar’s 10th oath taking record in itself
Nitish Kumar has taken oath as Chief Minister nine times till now. On November 20, he will take oath for the 10th time. This number puts him in a different category among the leaders who have taken oath as Chief Minister the most number of times. But if we talk about total time, his tenure is more than 19 years. Still far behind Pawan Chamling (24+ years) and Naveen Patnaik (above 24 years). This means that even after taking oath for the 10th time, he will not be able to break Pawan Chamling’s record, because this record will not be decided on the number of times he took oath, but on the total number of years and days he remained in office.
In this way, former Chief Minister of Sikkim Pawan Kumar Chamling is the longest serving Chief Minister in the history of India. Rising from poverty and mountain struggle, he ruled Sikkim for almost 25 years from 1994 to 2019 on the strength of mass movements and his party. There doesn’t appear to be any possibility of his record being broken in the near future.
Who is the top-10 leader who has been Chief Minister for the longest period?
1- Pawan Kumar Chamling (Sikkim) / 24 years 165 days
2- Naveen Patnaik (Odisha) / 24 years 99 days
3- Jyoti Basu (West Bengal) / 23 years 137 days
4- Gegong Apang (Arunachal Pradesh) / 22 years 250 days
5- Lal Thanhawla (Mizoram) / 22 years 60 days
6- Virbhadra Singh (Himachal Pradesh) / 21 years 13 days
7- Manik Sarkar (Tripura) / 19 years 363 days
8- Nitish Kumar (Bihar) / 19 years completed, 20th year continuing
9- M. Karunanidhi (Tamil Nadu) / 18 years 362 days
10- Prakash Singh Badal (Punjab) / 18 years 350 days
(Note: There are top-10 CMs who have held the most posts but it is not necessary that all of them have been there continuously like Pawan Kumar.)
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