Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday once again invited friction with his party’s leadership by openly praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In a post on X, the Thiruvananthapuram MP revealed that he had been invited to a private event where the Prime Minister delivered a speech on “India’s constructive impatience for development” and strongly advocated the cultivation of a post-colonial mindset.
Tharoor wrote that the Prime Minister emphasised that India is no longer merely an “emerging market” but has become an “emerging model” for the world, one that global observers have noted for its economic resilience in surviving major crises such as the pandemic and for successfully navigating the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Recounting the PM’s remarks, Tharoor quoted Modi as saying he had often been accused of perpetually being in “election mode,” but insisted that he was actually in an “emotional mode” to redress the problems of the people. The speech, Tharoor noted, devoted considerable attention to the lingering impact of colonialism on India’s education system.
“A significant part of the speech was dedicated to overturning Macaulay’s 200-year legacy of ‘slave mentality’ (i.e., a colonial mindset)… the PM appealed for a 10-year national mission to restore pride in India’s heritage, languages, and knowledge systems,” Tharoor wrote.
He concluded: “On the whole, the address served as an economic outlook and a cultural call to action, urging the nation to be restless for progress. Glad to have been in the audience…”
The Prime Minister was referring to Thomas Babington Macaulay, the 19th-century British politician and historian who arrived in India in 1834 and is widely credited with introducing the Western education system, including the decision to make English the official language of instruction in schools across the country.
During the speech, Modi stated: “In India’s traditional education system, we were taught to take pride in our culture. Our education emphasised skill along with learning. That is why Macaulay decided to break the backbone of India’s education system… and he succeeded.”
“Macaulay ensured that the British language and British thinking received greater recognition during that period, and India paid the price for it for centuries to come,” the Prime Minister continued, adding that the British reformer “broke our self-confidence and filled us with a sense of inferiority.”
Tharoor’s public appreciation of the Prime Minister’s address is unlikely to be received favourably by other Congress leaders, especially as this is far from the first occasion on which he has spoken positively about Modi.
Relations between the four-time MP and the Congress party have deteriorated sharply in recent months, particularly since he was selected as one of the opposition’s representatives in government delegations to friendly countries following the Pahalgam terror attack.
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His remarks praising the PM’s handling of that crisis and India’s military response—Operation Sindoor—drew sharp criticism from within the Congress and fuelled speculation of an impending major rift between the politician and his party.
Even prior to those events, the relationship between Shashi Tharoor and the Congress had appeared strained. Tharoor was a prominent member of the “G-23” group of senior leaders who had openly expressed dissatisfaction with the Gandhi family’s leadership style and called for comprehensive organisational reforms. He had also contested for the post of Congress president.
Earlier this month, Tharoor penned an article sharply critical of dynastic politics in India. Titled “Indian Politics Are a Family Business,” the piece examined dynasty-dominated parties, explicitly naming the Congress, Samajwadi Party, DMK, Trinamool Congress, and National Conference among them.
Also Read: Tharoor defends post on Advani, says 'unfair' to judge his legacy
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