New Delhi: In his address to the nation Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it amply clear yet again that he has set his eye on continuing in office for another five years.
“We built a strong economy, stopped leakages. I am giving an account of 10 years from Red Fort. It is ‘Modi’s guarantee’ that India will become the third largest global economy in the next five years,” a confident Modi said.
This was the second time Modi made his detractors and well-wishers known that the unwritten retirement age of 75 years was not cast in stone. At the debate on no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, the prime minister had made a similiar statement.
“There will be new reforms as per the need and all the efforts will be made for performance. We will be the third-largest economy. The country trusts that when you bring the no-confidence motion in 2028, the country would be among the top three nations of the world,” Modi had said, taking a swipe at the opposition parties.
Given his undisputed popularity among the masses, Modi, 72, faces no challenge from within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in his desire to lead the party in 2024 and continue till 2029. The PM will turn 75 in September 2025. But, his message has many in private calling out the “double standard” of the party in setting one rule for the prime minister and another for others.
Another spin-off of this posturing is that veteran leaders are now sensing an opportunity to continue in various capacities beyond the age limit. Take for example, two-time Mathura MP Hema Malini who will be turning 75 next year. In June, she had said that she would contest from Mathura and no other place in the next election.
Overall, the BJP has 71 MPs who will be at least 70 when the general election takes place next year. The average age of BJP candidates fielded in 2019 was 55 years.
Some prominent MPs who run the risk of being denied tickets include Hema Malini, Rama Ram Tripathi, Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Santosh Gangwar, Satyadev Pachauri, Radha Mohan Singh, Sadananda Gowda, Shripad Naik, and Kirron Kher.
In 2019, the BJP dropped more than 20 veteran MPs who were above 75 years. L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sumitra Mahajan, Kalraj Mishra, B.S. Koshiyari, B.C. Khanduri, Karia Munda, Shanta Kumar, Hukumdev Narayan Yadav, Satyanarayan Jatia, Satrughan Sinha were told to retire from politics.
Some like Mishra and Koshiyari were sent to Raj Bhavans while others like Yadav had their children get Lok Sabha tickets.
Not all veterans had taken it lying down. Advani had shown displeasure about the way the party communicated its decision to him. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan wrote an open letter announcing her retirement, citing the party’s indecision about her parliamentary seat. Murli Manohar Joshi told voters of Kanpur that he was communicated by his party to not contest the national election from the constituency and look for a seat elsewhere.
While Ramlal, then BJP organisational general secretary, requested them over phone to announce that they are opting out of the polls, Advani and Joshi did not toe the party diktat. Later, then BJP chief Amit Shah replaced Advani in Gandhinagar seat to contest his first Lok Sabha election
Back then Shah had told a news magazine that it was the party’s decision to not give poll tickets to those above 75.
Others who had to relinquish positions include former Karnataka chief minister B.S.Yediyurappa and former Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel. Veterans like Patel, Koshiyari, Kalyan Singh, Najma Heptulla, Vajubhai Vala, and Lalji Tandon were made governors. But there were disgruntled voices that the age embargo was sometimes deployed to corner state leaders who did not fall in line with the Modi-Shah duo.
As exceptions were made for Gulab Chand Kataria, Kailash Chandra Meghwal (Rajasthan), O. Rajagopal, E. Sreedharan (Kerala), B. N. Bache Gowda, and GS Basavaraj (Karnataka), their candidatures in polls meant that the age rule was not applied in letter and spirit.
“It’s true no party can replace its leader till he is winning, but why was it not applied in the case of Yedurappa who was popular and winning? When Sumitra Mahajan and Joshi were retired, they were popular in their constituency. The party needs young faces for growth but it should not be the case to settle scores with those who are not at the same page with the BJP high command, or to serve it on platter to those who are ready to make Parikrama of Modi,” a former BJP Rajasthan chief told ThePrint.
A former Union minister highlighted that the age rule was not prevalent during the Vajpayee years.
“Vajpyee himself became prime minister in 1996 at the age of 72. When he took oath in 1999, he was 75. Politics is not about age. Biden became America president at 78, and he is ready to fight for another term. If you make a rule, it should be universal. The question is who will ask this today. Seniors like Advani and Joshi were forced to retire. Despite RSS backing, Gadkari knows he cannot take the position… Those who were selected in the cabinet neither have authority nor persona to question decisions of Modi and Shah,” the former minister said.
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‘Modi hai zaroori’
For now, Modi has seemingly no challenger to claim stake for the top post. Senior leaders like Rajnath Singh and Shivraj Singh Chouhan can’t raise points that can annoy the PM, said party insiders.
Union home minister and Modi’s confidant Amit Shah is 58. Another aspirant Yogi Adityanath, 51, has to go through an image makeover like Modi did during his stint in Gujarat before he can think of occupying the chair, said the party insiders.
“Time has not come yet to decide the succession plan as Modi has some years left to lead the country and the RSS is not so powerful as to dictate its term like in 2009 when it made Gadkari the party president. This will be decided once Modi decides to retire and his opinion will be most important in deciding the issue of succession,” a party source said.
Satyadev Pachauri, the 76-year-old BJP MP from Kanpur, felt that the age caveat was done in the interest of the country.
“Modi is essential for the country’s growth and making India the third largest economy in the world. No such development happened earlier, that is why Modi hai zaroori (essential). The country’s interest is bigger than Individual; he is required to serve and lead in the interest of the country and its people to make India a strong super power,” he told ThePrint.
“Age should not be a criteria for getting poll tickets. If a person is fit and performing, he/she should be given a ticket. What if a younger person is not performing? So no such rules can be applied,” he added.
Former Madhya Pradesh minister Gauri Shankar Bisen, who is the chairman of the state backward classes commission, was more forthcoming. “India has never seen a prime minister like Modi. He is fit and new heights have been achieved under his leadership…the age rule can be bent for him as the country requires his leadership,” he told ThePrint.
Satyanarayan Jatiya, a Dalit leader who was added into the BJP’s parliamentary board in 2022, claimed that the BJP has no rule barring those above 75 from contesting elections.
The seven-time Ujjain MP was not given a Lok Sabha ticket in 2019. “When we clean our house near Diwali, we remove something and put it away in a secure place to use it when the need arises. Likewise, people are as long as they have breath left in them,” he told ThePrint.
Hukumdev Narayan Yadav, a former Union minister, told ThePrint that the time is not right to decide on the succession line. “The prime minister has not reached 75. When he will be 75, the party will think about it. Lohia used to say that in politics, there should be an age to retire. As a Lohiate, I decided to not contest in 2019. It was my personal decision,” he said.
A BJP national secretary asserted that the party will consider performance and winnability as the yardsticks for deciding Lok Sabha tickets. “The prime minister is in the best of his health and at the peak of his popularity. He will lead the party for several years, but it does not apply to others. Over 30 percent of MPs will be changed in 2024. Of course, the party will use performance and winnability as main criteria to decide tickets,” he asserted.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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