Congress leader Jairam Ramesh. File

| Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

The Congress on Thursday (September 11, 2025) said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s article on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on the latter’s 75th birthday was a “desperate bid” to curry favour with the Sangh leadership.On the occasion of Mr. Bhagwat’s birthday, the Prime Minister had authored a piece in which he praised the RSS chief and said his tenure since 2009 would be considered the “most transformative period in its 100-year journey”.In a post on the social media platform X, Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said, “The Prime Minister, in his desperate bid to curry favour with the RSS leadership, has written an over-the-top tribute to Mohan Bhagwat on his 75th birthday today. The PM has recalled that it was on September 11, 1893, that Swami Vivekananda gave his immortal speech in Chicago. The Prime Minister has also recalled that the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks in the U.S. took place on Sept 11, 2001,” Mr. Ramesh said.“But not surprisingly, the Prime Minister has not mentioned that Mahatma Gandhi first gave the call for satyagraha on Sept 11, 1906, in Johannesburg. That was when the world first heard of this revolutionary idea. Of course it is too much to expect the Prime Minister to remember the origin of satyagraha since the very word satya [truth] is alien to him. The PM, who himself claimed to be non-biological, makes his pravachans [forecst] appear as if they are God-se,” the Congress leader added.On 75 retirement ruleThe Congress’s whip in the Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore also took a dig at the Prime Minister. “Advaniji at 75: ‘Rule is rule, step aside’. Murali Manohar Joshiji at 75: ‘Rule is rule, retire gracefully.’ Mohan Bhagwatji at 75: Modi writes poetry on ‘Wisdom &Trust’. So the famous 75-year retirement rule is not a principle, just a tool,” the Congress leader said on X.“Apply it to Advaniji & Joshiji. Bend it for Bhagwatji. Ignore it for Modi himself. This is not respect, this is sycophancy. A long essay in praise of Bhagwatji is nothing but Modi’s insurance policy — a message to Nagpur: ‘Don’t apply 75 to me in 2025’,” the Congress Whip said, added. Published - September 11, 2025 11:17 am IST