Push for Modi 4.0

Leaders with 'mileage' believe they can overcome age and vintage. ThinkXi, Biden, Trump, going ahead Erdogan and Putin, and now, we have sufficient evidence to say, Narendra Modi

- SHEKHAR GUPTA

If I said to you that the frenetic pace of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's travels, (2007) when one of his younger comrades expressed surprise that he did "such vile I Prime Narendra Modi's expressed did and speech-making in distant places marks the launch of the campaign for the general elections, you would most certainly ask me, "So what's the big deal? Don't we all know the campaign is on? After all, the elections are just weeks away." Good question. Except the campaign we are talking about is not for 2024. That, the Modi-Shah Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) considers as signed, sealed, locked in its vault. The campaign we are talking about is for 2029. And that is not only because we already have the evidence of public statements by two BJP stalwarts.

First, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in Darbhanga that voters should take a pledge to elect Narendra Modi not just for a third, but also for a fourth term for India to end poverty. Then, Home Minister and BJP playmaker Amit Shah said at a media conclave that the Opposition should now be making plans only for 2034 onwards.

Add the two and it means Mr Modi will be in the contest for an unprecedented, consecutive fourth term in 2029. If you are among those who still harbour the illusion that there is a 75year retirement age in the BJP, consider the fielding of Hema Malini in Mathura for a third term at 75.

If you ask BJP people, they will ask you, "Whoever told you there was an age limit?" Nevertheless, her nomination is as clear an indication as you can get that there is no 75-year cut-off. And if she can contest at 75, who'd grudge Mr Modi at 79 (as he will be in 2029). He would still be about two years younger than Joe Biden today, and two years older than Donald Trump. If one of them can be the US President at that vintage, why not Mr Modi?