Age, Power, and Succession: Why Mohan Bhagwat’s Message Has BJP Circles Buzzing

With the BJP likely to assert autonomy under Modi, RSS is keen to find ways to discipline its political offshoot.

Mohan Bhagwat himself is six days older to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Both will hit the milestone of 75 years of age in September this year.

(Photo: Aroop Mishra/The Quint)

Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat has pulled sensitive strings within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with his veiled message of 75 years as a pivot for one to step back and give opportunities to others.

Sharing an anecdote about senior RSS functionary Moropant Pingle, Bhagwat spoke favourably of him for “stepping back” when he turned 75 years old. Known for speaking in symbolisms and metaphors, Bhagwat has sent circles within the BJP buzzing on possibilities in near future.

Bhagwat himself is six days older to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Both will hit the milestone of 75 years of age in September this year. Bhagwat rose to helm the RSS in 2009, and he has held the top post in the saffron organisation for almost 16 years.

For the RSS, Bhagwat is the top icon, around which the organisation has set an ambitious task of major expansion in near future.

Similarly, Modi is the top political icon for the BJP, with over 11 years in the office as the Prime Minister. If they decide to quit their respective posts to pave way for the next generation, the RSS and the BJP will be staring at a certain vacuum for which they have not yet prepared.

Decoding Bhagwat’s Message

Whether Bhagwat’s message was meant for Modi is a matter of speculation. Bhagwat’s remarks in the past, like the about how one shouldn’t aim to become a God, have also in the past been interpreted as meant for Modi by some observers.

While none can speak with certainty about the target of Bhagwat’s messaging, there’s almost a consensus opinion in the RSS and the BJP that he alone has the stature to serve a message, even bluntly, to Modi.

But the desired outcome may not be what outsiders interpret from Bhagwat’s messages. It will rather be more prudent to examine Bhagwat’s remarks within the ambit of evolving relations between the BJP and the RSS. Insiders in the BJP argue that Modi currently cannot be dictated by anyone to act in a certain manner. Thus, Modi’s retirement when he turns 75 years old can be dismissed as an outlandish proposition.

BJP is Too Autonomous for RSS to Force its Will

Ever since the BJP formed government at the Centre in 1996 for 13 days with Atal Bihari Vajpayee subsequently serving a full term as PM between 1999-2004, the relations between the BJP and the RSS have fundamentally changed.

Indeed, the RSS pulls strings in organisational matters of the BJP, but the scale of interference has been detested even by the likes of LK Advani when he was the party chief. Top guns in the BJP have been learnt to have argued that they too are swayamsewaks, like the RSS functionaries.

The RSS had succeeded in carrying out a bold experiment by installing Nitin Gadkari as the president of the party. But the experiment wasn’t entirely successful, for Gadkari’s term faced major upheavals within the party. After Gadkari’s exit as the party chief, the BJP returned to the path of resisting the RSS diktat in organisational matters.

But the tug of war between the RSS and the BJP persists.

Insiders in both the organisations argue that Bhagwat’s remarks signify blunt messaging for the BJP to fall in line on choosing the next president of the party. Incumbent BJP chief Jagat Prakash Nadda is now in his sixth year as party president.

Even while the BJP seeks autonomy in functioning, the party is well aware that a lack of approval from the RSS in choosing the party president could be counter-productive.

Nadda’s claims in an interview in the midst of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections—that earlier, the BJP was less capable and needed the RSS while today it is capable and 'runs itself'— was widely attributed to the disturbed ties within the saffron family.

As a practice, the BJP shares a list of probable names to the RSS for approval for the post of the president and the RSS can ask for additional names if none in the list is of its liking.

It can be assumed that the RSS and the BJP are currently not on the same page on the election of the next BJP president. It will also be natural to assume that Bhagwat, by spotlighting the 75 years age limit, is putting pressure on Modi to make him flexible on the election of the next BJP president. The RSS is keen to keep options open after the 2029 elections, which will be fought under the leadership of the next president of the party.

Modi-Bhagwat Retirement Not on Agenda

With his Dussehra address this year, Bhagwat will begin the centenary celebrations of the RSS. His programmes for the whole year have been finalised after extensive deliberations within the organisation. It will, thus, be out of place to believe that Bhagwat wouldn’t have been consulted for the year-long programmes. Also, impulsive decisions in the RSS are not known to be taken. The BJP, after a few months of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, began preparations for the 2029 general elections.

Modi is the architect of the BJP’s 2029 plan, as well as the sole mascot. That he will abandon the BJP plan and quit politics when he turns 75 years old defies logic.

As Prime Minister, Modi has visited Bihar on 51 occasions. The National Democratic Alliance's poll plank in Bihar is pivoted around Modi. Bihar polls will be held at least two months after Modi turns 75.

After Bihar, the BJP will gear up for a series of Assembly elections in 2026 in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and finally, the key saffron battlegrounds of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat in 2027. The BJP envisages Modi to helm the party in these elections which will set the stage for the 2029 general elections. The RSS and the BJP calendars thus have not provided for Bhagwat and Modi to quit the stage, assert insiders in both the organisations.

With the BJP likely asserting autonomy under the leadership of Modi, the RSS is most likely keen to find ways to make its political offshoot disciplined and listen to its counsels on a larger number of subjects. In this backdrop, Bhagwat may be expected to speak more and also bluntly.

(Manish Anand is a senior Delhi-based journalist with over two decades of political journalism, including tracking the affairs of the BJP and the RSS, for several publications. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)