Speculation Prime Minister Narendra Modi will ‘retire’ after his 75th birthday in September – i.e., he will stand down in accordance with an unspoken ‘rule’ within the BJP and its ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh – has been dismissed by RSS boss Mohan Bhagwat.
Mr Bhagwat, who will turn 75 six days before the Prime Minister, told reporters Thursday evening, “I never said I will retire or that someone else should retire when they turn 75…”
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“We will do what the Sangh tells us,” he said, as the RSS celebrates its 100th anniversary.
“In the Sangh, we are swayamsevaks… we are given a job, whether we want it or not,” he said, declaring also that he would continue to run the RSS “even if I am 80 years old”.
“We do whatever we are told to do,” he explained.
WIll PM Retire At 75? No, Says BJP
The BJP has repeatedly said there is no rule requiring Mr Modi to resign after turning 75.
The party has pointed to the federal government, in which there is already one member – 80-year-old Bihar leader Jitan Ram Manjhi, the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Minister – over that ‘limit’. Others, including the Prime Minister are within a year or two of that mark.
Over the past few years the opposition has routinely picked up on this ‘rule’, fuelled by comments from Mr Shah before the 2019 election, that the party opted against fielding candidates older than 75.
Mr Shah said then that was an electoral decision and stressed, “There is no provision regarding age, anywhere in the Constitution of the BJP.”
Opposition’s 75-Year-Old Jab
Undeterred, the opposition pointed to BJP veterans like LK Advani and Murali Manohar Joshi, who were 92 and 90 years old in 2019 when they were eased out of the party. That same year other BJP leaders, including Bhagat Singh Koshyari, 76, and BC Khanduri, 85, were dropped.
Aam Aadmi Party boss Arvind Kejriwal also weighed in; “He (Mr Modi) will retire next year. He is seeking votes to making Amit Shah the Prime Minister,” he said campaigning for the election.
Then too Mr Shah had said the BJP does not require leaders over 75 to retire.
Opposition jibes over Mr Modi’s ‘resignation’ resurfaced in March after he visited Nagpur – the head office of the RSS – for the first time in 11 years, or since he became Prime Minister.
