Joe Biden, the president of the United States of America, formally announced his re-election campaign earlier this week, setting the stage for a potential rematch with the former president, Donald Trump, in November 2024. Mr Biden and Mr Trump were the chief protagonists of the 2020 race to the White House. That election culminated in an outcome that Mr Trump refused to accept, leading to the deadly siege on the Capitol by the former president’s supporters on January 6, 2021. More than two years later, the US is still as bitterly divided as it was then, if not more so, on everything — from race and gender to the country’s role in the world and whether its elections can even be trusted. No contest between the presidential nominees of the Democratic and the Republican parties is likely to be immune to these fissures. But a fresh fight between Mr Biden and Mr Trump could sharpen them still further. Yet, the 2024 election could also revive old questions about age and whether politicians — especially in high posts — ought to retire. Those are questions which resonate around the world, including in India.

Mr Biden, 80 years old at the mom­ent, would be 86 by the end of a second term. He is already the oldest US president ever. Mr Trump is 76, and will be 82 in 2029. As sitting president, Mr Biden is expected to sail through to the Democratic Party’s no­m­ination. Although Mr Trump faces challengers, he remains the most po­pular leader of his party at the moment. However, both Mr Biden and Mr Trump have low approval ratings, and with neither offering meaningful new ideas for the next decade, a lack of excitement about their matchup is unsurprising. Nor is it unique to the US. India’s median age is 28; the average age of the Union council of ministers is 58 — it was even higher previously. To be sure, there is no substitute for experience in positions of vital importance. But without a regular injection of fresh ideas from people more representative of society, a country’s leaders can end up repeating mistakes and missing opportunities.

In Mr Biden’s telling, though, the 2024 election — like the one in 2020 — is about something bigger than age or any other factor: it is, in his words, a fight for the soul of his nation. While his reference is likely to the perceived threat to democracy posed by Mr Trump, the US is not the only country battling for its soul. Some of the basic pillars of modern India’s identity — from secularism to the relative independence of key institutions — have increasingly come under assault during the reign of Narendra Modi. The world’s largest democracy must decide whether its soul is worth fighting for. If that battle is urgent in the US, it is no less critical in India.