Will BJP relax its 75-year age ceiling for Capt AmarinderSingh ? 

New Delhi: The induction of former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to open a pandora’s box in the saffron party regarding its unwritten rule of retiring those above 75 years of age.

Amarinder is 80 and has already crossed the age bar to hold any post in the government or the BJP or to contest any election.

On August 26, 2014, soon after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) stormed to power at the Centre, the then BJP chief Amit Shah formed a ‘Margdarshak Mandal’ to guide the party leadership on various issues.

Apart from late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the group included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, veteran leaders LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi and present defence minister Rajnath Singh.

Soon after, a rule was introduced in the BJP according to which leaders above 75 years of age will not hold any administrative post in central or state governments or in the BJP besides they would also not be eligible to contest elections.

So far, the norm has been strictly implemented in the BJP given that two former chief ministers Anandiben Patel in Gujarat and BS Yediyurappa had to step down from their posts soon after crossing the age bar.

In fact, Yediyurappa was perhaps the only BJP leader who had defied the 75-year age ceiling for holding offices and contesting elections. 

Yediyurappa became the chief minister when he had already crossed the age bar, mainly because he had single-handedly brought down the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition government led by HD Kumaraswamy in July 2019 soon after the BJP returned to power following a massive victory in the Lok Sabha elections that year.

The central leadership had resented the move but could not act against him till July 2021 when it eventually managed to dislodge him only to be inducted into the all-important central parliamentary board in August this year.

This was done keeping in mind the 2023 assembly elections in Karnataka and the influence he wields on the dominant Lingayat community and some other sections in the state.

On Monday, Amarinder will also merge his newly-formed Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) with the BJP. 

He had formed the PLC after he was unceremoniously removed as the chief minister by the Congress high command and named Dalit leader Charanjit Singh Channi as his replacement.

The party fought the assembly elections earlier this year in alliance with the BJP. It contested 28 seats and only the Maharaja of Patiala could save his deposit. He lost to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Ajit Pal Singh Kohli.

That begs the question that what will Amarinder bring to the BJP table. Nothing much except that he is a prominent Jat Sikh face with good credentials, having served the Indian army apart from being the chief minister of Punjab twice – first from 2002 to 2007 and then from 2017 to 2021.

Over the years, Amarinder has lost the connect with the ground. He tried to stay politically relevant by supporting the farmers in their agitation against the three farm laws, which were eventually withdrawn by the central government after a year-long protests by the peasants at Delhi borders. But even that didn’t help him win his own seat (Patiala Urban) in the assembly elections.

The BJP is preparing for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and every seat counts for it. The party leadership is of the view that Amarinder’s entry will help it make inroads in the Jat Sikh community.

Besides, the BJP does not have a credible face in Punjab and Amarinder could easily fit the bill.

But it remains to be seen if the present BJP leadership is willing to set aside its age bar rule to give him a prominent role or if he is sent to the central parliamentary board and eventually to the ‘margdarshak mandal’.