Congress leader Udit Raj has a big statement on Monday, suggesting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will resign on September 17, his 75th Birthday.
“Hope PM Modi resigns tomorrow as he will turn 75; that was the age limit he had set for other leaders,” Raj told news agency PTI.
Over the past few years, the opposition has routinely picked up on this ‘rule’, fuelled by comments from Union Minister Amit Shah before the 2019 election, that the party opted against fielding candidates older than 75.
RSS Mohan Bhagwat’s statement
In July this year, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat suggested that leaders should retire after 75. Bhagwat’s remark again prompted opposition politicians to question its implications for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who turns 75 this September.
“When you turn 75, it means you should stop now and make way for others,” Bhagwat said, speaking at a book release event dedicated to late RSS ideologue Moropant Pingle in Nagpur on July 9.
Born as Narendra Damodardas Modi on September 17, 1950 in the nondescript Mehsana town of Gujarat, he served as the state’s CM for three consecutive terms (2001-14) and is now the Prime Minister for the third time since 2014.
On July 25, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge asked if Modi would retire at 75, as suggested by the RSS. “Now he [PM] is completing 75 years. When will he move out? That issue is also before us. Will he go? Modi ji ousted all others. He has nothing to do with the country. He is only worried about his chair,” Kharge said referring to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s statement about retiring politicians at 75,
Kharge said that citing this rule, Modi removed veteran BJP leaders such as LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi.
BJP’s retirement rule at 75?
The timing of Bhagwat’s statement had drawn attention because both he and Prime Minister Modi were born in September 1950 – Bhagwat on the September 11 and Modi on September 17.
In May 2024, ahead of theLok Sabha polls, speculations arose about whether PM Modi, who was then seeking a third term, would retire upon turning 75 in September 2025.
Shah, however, clarified in May 2023 that there is no retirement clause in the BJP’s constitution. “Modi ji will continue to lead till 2029. There’s no truth in retirement rumours. The INDIA bloc won’t win the upcoming elections with lies,” he said.
Never said someone else should retire: Bhagwat
On the so-called retirement at 75 rule, Union Minister Rajnath Singh also said, ‘It was never decided. You can write in bold letters that no such decision was taken… I was party president, and I am saying it forcefully that there was no such decision at all. Had it been decided, it would have been mentioned in the party constitution.”
In August, however, Bhagwat allayed fears and speculations of Prime Minister Narendra Modi retiring from his post after his 75th birthday,
“I never said I will retire or that someone else should retire when they turn 75,” Bhagwat said in the national capital last month.