New Delhi: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat’s remark on stepping aside at the age of 75 has sparked a sharp debate on if these words were actually meant for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who, along with Bhagwat, turns 75 this September.Bhagwat was speaking at a book release dedicated to late RSS ideologue Moropant Pingle in Nagpur on Wednesday (July 9) evening. Bhagwat, speaking for just under two hours, said, “When you turn 75, it means you should stop now and make way for others.”Recalling the late RSS ideologue Moropant Pingle’s words, the RSS chief said, “Moropant Pingle once said that if you are honoured with a shawl after turning 75, it means that you should stop now, you are old, step aside and let others come in.”“This was his (Pingle’s) lesson. Moropant Pingle taught the RSS to work without any propaganda and to retire after seventy-five years,” Bhagwat said.Bhagwat will turn 75 on September 11 this year, just six days ahead of PM Modi, whom the Opposition has been speculating, will retire after getting there.Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) (Shiv Sena (UBT)) leader Sanjay Raut said on Thursday (July 10) that that Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is giving a message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to retire at the age of 75 years.“The rule of retirement after the age of 75 has been made by Modi and the RSS itself. I think the RSS is repeatedly advising Modi that you have to retire now and hand over the country to safe hands,” said Raut on Thursday, reported Deccan Chronicle.“PM Modi forced retirement on veteran leaders like Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Jaswant Singh, etc as they crossed the age of 75 years. Now let’s see if Modi follows it for himself,” said Raut.Bhagwat’s statement that one should step aside after attaining the age of 75 drew sharp comments from other leaders in the Opposition who asked what Modi, who turns 75 this year should do.The RSS chief’s remarks are seen by the Opposition as a veiled message to PM Modi.Congress general secretary in charge of Communication, Jairam Ramesh, said, “Poor award-seeking Prime Minister! What a homecoming this is – on returning, he was reminded by the Sarsanghchalak that he will turn 75 on 17 September 2025.”He also said, “But the Prime Minister can also tell the Sarsanghchalak that – he too will turn 75 on 11 September 2025!”“One arrow, two targets!” he said.Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “Preaching without practice is always dangerous. It is unprincipled that the Margdarshak Mandal was given compulsory retirement applying the 75-year age limit, but indications are clear that the current dispensation will be exempted from this rule.”Broader context of Bhagwat’s remarksTensions have marked ties between the RSS and the Modi government, at least dating as the interview in the run-up to the 2024 general elections where the BJP President JP Nadda said the party did not really need the RSS, “we have grown, more capable now…the BJP runs itself”.Strained ties over who the next chief of the party would be, alongwith BJP state party units undergoing a lot of infighting have forced Nadda to continue as party head for more than a year and a half after his term has ended.In April this year, after Modi made his first visit to the RSS headquarters since becoming the Prime Minister 11 years ago, Raut had said that Modi would step down as PM in September and his successor would be from Maharashtra. He had said that the RSS had summoned the Prime Minister to discuss the issue of his successor.The last Census in India was held in 2011, but a press release by the Modi government in February this year referred to India being a nation of young persons. “India has the largest youth population in the world, with about 65% of its people under the age of 35”, it read.The BJP has been repeatedly trying to say that there are no retirement plans for Modi. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seen as Modi’s closest associate in the cabinet had said in May 2023 itself that, “Modi ji will continue to lead until 2029. There’s no truth in retirement rumours.”Incidentally, on the same day that Bhagwat made his remarks, Amit Shah, who has turned 60 in April this year, said Vedas, Upanishads and natural farming were on his post-retirement list.“I would like to dedicate my time to the Vedas, Upanishads, and organic farming,” Shah said at a gathering of women and party activists from Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.