New Delhi: Narendra Modi is all set to become the third “most successful” Prime Minister of India after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, historian Ramachandra Guha said.

He said the 66-year-old leader’s “charisma” and “appeal” transcend the boundaries of caste and language.

At the London School of Economics India Summit 2017, Mr Guha said Mr Modi’s “authority” and “Pan-Indian vision” put him on the same pedestal as that of Nehru and his daughter Gandhi.

“We live in a time when Narendra Modi is poised to become, and perhaps already is, the third most successful Prime Minister in Indian history. He is the only one you would place on par with Nehru and Indira in terms of authority that he exudes and the pan-Indian vision he commands,” Mr Guha said.

“Since Nehru and Indira, there has been no Indian Prime Minister who has had that authority, that sense of command, that charisma, that cross caste, cross linguistic, cross regional appeal in India,” he said.

Mr Guha said the caste system and discrimination against women were two of India’s “indisputable facts”. He said both Islam and Hinduism “grievously” discriminate against women.

“Caste system is the most rigorous, most diabolical system of social stratification ever invented by humans and we Hindus invented it,” he said. Mr Guha taught at LSE in 2011-12, and praised its close links with India.