Will Modi retire in Sept 2025? Won’t have to wait till then, says Tharoor

The country need not wait until September 2025 to find out whether Narendra Modi will retire from politics as he turns 75, as he will cease to be the Prime Minister after June 4, when results of Lok Sabha polls will be declared, according to senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor.

Tharoor’s comments came on Sunday (May 12), a day after Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal claimed that Modi was seeking votes for Home Minister Amit Shah, who would be his successor after his retirement upon turning 75 in September 2025, following his party rule.

Kejriwal’s remark

Kejriwal’s comment sparked a war of words, with the BJP arguing that the Delhi chief minister had therefore accepted that Modi was bound to return as the Prime Minister.

While responding to a query on Kejriwal’s remarks at a press conference in Mumbai, Tharoor said, “A new government will come to power at the Centre in June. There is no need to wait till September 2025.”

The Thiruvananthapuram MP alleged that Modi has lowered the standard of public discourse and the language he is using is not good for the country.

Ram temple invite

He justified the Congress’s decision to decline the invitation for the consecration ceremony of the Ayodhya Ram temple earlier this year, saying the BJP does not have the copyright on Lord Ram.

“I go to temples for praying and not for doing politics. They are misusing the pran pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya for politics. Should I surrender Lord Ram to BJP?” Tharoor remarked.

The Congress leader further claimed the BJP has failed to hold a substantive dialogue on issues such as rising inflation, unemployment, the failure to double farmers’ incomes, and the decline in the income of 80 per cent of the population.

Coalition politics

When asked why Congress has not named even a single Muslim candidate in the Lok Sabha polls from Maharashtra, Tharoor cited the “compulsions of coalition politics”.

“In coalition politics, a party has to contest fewer seats,” he added, arguing that making concessions in the larger interest of the alliance cannot be called a surrender.

The Congress is part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in Maharashtra along with Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP).

Muslim leaders in BJP

Tharoor claimed the BJP has failed to give representation to Muslims in the government.

“All Muslim leaders who were part of the [Atal Bihari] Vajpayee era were phased out after Modi’s first term [as prime minister],” he said.

“Allies are standing with us. There is mutual respect unlike in the BJP-led NDA where Akali Dal and BJD have spurned the BJP,” Tharoor said, adding that former PMs Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh ran the coalition governments excellently.

He claimed Modi wants to run the parliamentary system of democracy in a Presidential style.

Congress’s priority

According to Tharoor, the Congress’s priority is to protect the essential character of cosmopolitan Mumbai. “After three phases of polling, a change is visible in the air,” he said.

Tharoor campaigned for Congress nominees Varsha Gaikwad and Bhushan Patil, who are in the fray from Mumbai North Central and Mumbai North seats, respectively, against BJP’s Ujjwal Nikam and Union minister Piyush Goyal.

Voting for all six Parliamentary constituencies in Mumbai is scheduled for May 20.

“I am confident there will be good results in the favour of Congress,” Tharoor added.

(With agency inputs)