Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Mar 31: A debate over possible retirement of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who turns 75 this September, has started on the expected lines. A suggestion has been made that Mr Modi will adhere to his own set of rules and has been promptly refuted by the BJP.
The Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday asserted that not this year, the country was looking forward to Mr Modi becoming Prime Minister even in 2029 and there was no question of anyone looking for his replacement at any stage. He would continue to lead the country for many more years to come.
The Chief Minister’s remark came as he responded to Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut’s remark on Monday morning that PM Modi went to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters in Nagpur on Sunday to convey the message to Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat that he was retiring. It was Mr Modi’s first visit to the RSS headquarter since becoming the Prime Minister 11 years ago.
Speaking to reporters in Nagpur, Fadnavis said, “In 2029, we will see Modi as the Prime Minister again.” “There is no need to search for his successor. He (Modi) is our leader and will continue,” Fadnavis said.
Discussing succession while the leader is active is inappropriate in Indian culture, the Chief Minister added. “In our culture, when the father is alive, it is inappropriate to talk about succession. That is Mughal culture. The time has not come to discuss it,” he said, referring to Raut’s claim that Modi’s successor would come from Maharashtra.
Mr Raut had earlier claimed that the RSS wanted a change in the political leadership in the country and that Mr Modi went to its Nagpur headquarter to convey that he would abide by it. “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.
The rule was virtually set by Mr Modi himself when he took over as the prime minister in 2014. He then made to retire all the elderly leaders in the party and formed his cabinet with restively younger members. Mr Modi turns 75 in September this year.
Senior RSS leader Suresh ‘Bhaiyyaji’ Joshi, who was also in Nagpur, said he was not aware of any talk of (PM’s) replacement. Mr Raut had added that Mr Modi never visited the RSS headquarters in the last 11 years but he went there on Sunday to inform the outfit that he was quitting. The PM’s first visit to headquarters since 2014 is being seen as marking a shift in the BJP’s stance towards its ideological parent following “frosty relations” last year.
Refuting the claim that an unspoken rule existed in the BJP about retiring at the age of 75, the party has said no such rule existed and there was at least one member in the union cabinet who is over that ‘age limit’ – 80-year-old Bihar leader Jitan Ram Manjhi, who is the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Minister. Others, including Mr Modi are within a year or two.
The buzz about Mr Modi’s ‘future’ was flagged by the Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejrwal during the general elections last year and got momentum after his visit to the RSS headquarter. The RSS is widely seen as the ruling party’s ideological mentor.
The visit has been picked up, and played up, by the opposition Shiv Sena (the faction led by ex-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray) in Maharashtra, with Sanjay Raut declaring the RSS had summoned the Prime Minister to discuss the question of his successor. “He (Mr Modi) probably went to the RSS headquarters to write his retirement application in September,” Mr Raut declared, claiming also his successor would be from Maharashtra.
“All the talks that go on in Sangh are behind the closed doors. They don’t come out. But the indications are clear. The Sangh will decide the future leader, and that person will probably be from Maharashtra,” Mr Raut said while speaking with reporters on Monday morning. “Modi’s successor will be from Maharashtra… and the RSS will decide on that.” “From what I understand the ‘sangh parivar‘ wants a change in the country’s leadership. PM Modi’s time is over. They want a change and want to choose the next BJP chief,” he declared.
The response was swift and assertive. Mr Fadnavis said, “In 2029 we will see Modi as Prime Minister again.” He also took a sharp swipe at talk of Mr Modi – whom he called “our father” – being phased out with a jab at “Mughal culture” in view of the raging controversy over Aurangzeb’s tomb.
Slamming the speculations, he said, “There is no reason to choose a successor for Modiji. Modiji is our leader. He is going to work for many more years. We have been insistent that we look at Modiji as the PM in the year 2029 as well. There is no point in speaking of it now. In our Indian tradition, we don’t think of succession when the father is alive. It is a Mughal tradition that children think of succession when the father is alive. This is not the time to think of it. That time has not yet come.”
