BHOPAL: Nine days after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s “step aside at the age of 75 years” remark, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and ex-union minister Uma Bharti said that politicians, doctors, lawyers, poets, and journalists never retire from public service.
Speaking to journalists in Bhopal, the 66-year-old saffron-clad leader, one of the prominent female faces of the Ayodhya Ram Temple movement, said such individuals continue to serve as long as they are called upon to do so.
However, she clarified that she will not be able to comment on the RSS chief’s recent statement, in which Bhagwat had recalled about late RSS leader Moropant Pingle’s statement about retiring at the age of 75.
“I cannot comment on the statement of the sarsanghchalak. First of all, I am not a member of his traditional organisation but I am a follower of that ideology. I cannot comment on his statement. But I believe that teachers, lawyers, doctors, artists, poets and journalists never retire. They have to do public service as long as it is needed.”
“A guru has to impart knowledge, while a doctor has to feel the pulse. Even on a pyre, if someone pleads for help, a leader has to be alive."
She said the knowledge of a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer, a journalist, a writer, a musician is like the knowledge of a mother.
"Even if a mother becomes 80 years old, she will still love you. She will not say I have retired, so I will not give you roti. A person can serve society for a lifetime even after retirement and no one retires from such a thing," Bharti said.
Bharti, who did not contest the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections citing health reasons, was asked by journalists what her position would be if the BJP offered her a ticket. The former Jhansi and Khajuraho MP said she was ready to contest, as she had not retired from politics.
In remarks that could spark political controversy in the BJP-ruled state, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti - who led the saffron party to power in 2003 after a decade - said her family members had been harassed for many years in the past.
“The harassment of my family started from 1990 to 1992, cases of robbery and dacoity were registered against my brothers which were not even robberies.”
She added that even during Digvijaya Singh’s regime, a case of murder was registered. Harassment continued till Vyapam.
“Till date I have not been able to find out why my name came up in Vyayam (scam).”
She further said that from 2005 to 2013, from 1990 to 1992, her family members were harassed. “I won’t name any leader…I have told the time.”
Importantly, the years mentioned by Bharti had BJP governments in the state, including Sunder Lal Patwa (1990-92), Babulal Gaur and Shivraj Singh Chouhan (2005-2013).
