Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said it was “Mughal culture” to discuss succession “when the father is alive”, dismissing speculation about Prime Minister Narendra Modi retiring later this year after turning 75.

It probably escaped Fadnavis that the Modi dispensation packed off two prominent party elders — L.K. Advani and M.M. Joshi — into the wilderness of the “Margdarshak Mandal” for reasons of age.

The subject erupted into the public domain a day after Modi visited the RSS headquarters, with Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut claiming the Sangh wanted the Prime Minister to retire at 75 and let a new political leadership take over.

Modi, who turns 75 on September 17 this year, had himself invoked an unofficial retirement age of 75 to sideline several members of the BJP old guard after coming to power in 2014.

“There is no need to search for his (Modi’s) successor. He (Modi) is our leader and will continue,” Fadnavis, who had accompanied Modi to the RSS headquarters, told reporters in Nagpur.

Asked about the speculation that Modi’s successor would be from Maharashtra, the chief minister, considered an RSS favourite, dodged the question by resorting to Mughal-bashing.

“In our culture, when the father is alive, it is inappropriate to talk about succession. That is Mughal culture. The time has not come to discuss it,” he said.

This seemed an allusion to Aurangzeb — the perennial whipping boy of the BJP-RSS — ascending the throne of Delhi after killing his brothers and imprisoning his father and then emperor Shahjahan.

Raut, a Rajya Sabha MP, had earlier told reporters in Mumbai that Modi had visited the RSS headquarters on Sunday “to discuss his retirement plan”.

“There are two things I understand about the RSS. First, the organisation wants a change in the country’s leadership; and second, Modiji’s time is over and he himself wants a change,” Raut claimed.

Modi’s first visit to the RSS headquarters in his nearly 11 years as Prime Minister has been widely construed as an outreach to mend bridges with Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat and secure the ideological parent’s sanction for a new BJP president of his choice.

Senior RSS leader Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi, who was seen with Modi and Bhagwat at the RSS headquarters on Sunday, said he was not aware of any “talk about (Modi’s)
replacement”.

The last time Modi’s possible retirement had become a subject of public discussion was in the run-up to last year’s general election, when Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal had stoked the fire.

Kejriwal had mischievously claimed that if re-elected, Modi would step down as Prime Minister in favour of his trusted lieutenant Amit Shah after reaching 75.

The BJP leadership had been forced to aggressively dismiss the claim, asserting that the unwritten retirement age didn’t apply to Modi.

“I want to tell Arvind Kejriwal and company, and the INDI Alliance, that they do not need to feel happy about Modiji turning 75,” Shah had said.

Discussions on Modi’s possible successor — whenever the Prime Minister retires from active politics — have, however, been raging within the BJP.

While Shah, the home minister, has long been seen as Modi’s “natural successor”, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath seems to have emerged as a stronger contender in recent months, powered by his hawkish brand of Hindutva.

Fadnavis, too, is believed to be eyeing the hot seat ever since he led the BJP to a landslide victory in the Maharashtra Assembly polls in December.