(L-R) Mohan Bhagwat, RSS chief, and Narendra Modi
Credit: PTI and Reuters Photos
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has once again fuelled speculations by claiming at a book launch in Nagpur that when one turns 75, they should stop and make way for others.
This can be perceived as a signal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will turn 75 in September.
“When you turn 75, it means you should stop now and make way for others,” Bhagwat said, on Wednesday, speaking at the release of a book Moropant Pingle: The Architect of Hindu Resurgence dedicated to the late RSS ideologue. Bhagwat, in his speech, said, “Pingle once said…if you are honoured with a shawl after turning 75, it means that you should stop now, you are old; step aside and let others come in.”
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) was first to raise the issue. “Modi forced leaders like LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, and Jaswant Singh to retire after they turned 75. Let’s see if he applies the same rule to himself now,” Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut said on Thursday.
Congress has also used the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief's suggestion that politicians should retire at the age of 75 to take pot shots at the current BJP leadership on the issue of political retirement.
Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh said: “Poor award-winning Prime Minister! What a homecoming - reminded by the RSS chief upon return that he will turn 75 on September 17, 2025. But the Prime Minister could also tell the RSS chief that - he too will turn 75 on September 11, 2025! One arrow, two targets!”
In March, after PM Modi visited the RSS headquarters in Nagpur for the first time since he became the prime minister, opposition leaders had alleged that he was planning to retire soon.
The charges were led Raut, who had claimed that the RSS wants a change in the leadership of the BJP. "He (Modi) probably went to RSS headquarters to write his retirement application in September,” Raut claimed, alluding to some leaders in the ruling dispensation retiring at 75.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had then dismissed speculations about PM Modi’s successor, asserting that Modi would continue to lead the country for many more years.
When Arvind Kejriwal had made similar claims back in 2024, BJP president J P Nadda was quick to shut down the AAP chief: "There is no such provision regarding age in the BJP's constitution," he had asserted. It now seems that the RSS chief does not share the same sentiments as the BJP national president.
Since Modi led the BJP to power in 2014, a number of party leaders were eased out of electoral politics and government positions on the grounds of their advanced age.
Party leaders had suggested that the leadership wanted veterans to opt out after crossing 75 years of age so that a new crop of leaders could emerge.
However, it was never an absolute practice and was not followed in many cases. B S Yediyurappa took over as Karnataka chief minister at 76 years in 2019.
With Modi being the party's mascot and most popular leader by far, he is expected to lead the party in the foreseeable future.
(With DHNS, PTI inputs)