NEW DELHI, Nov 19: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal for India to shed its “colonial mindset” and reclaim cultural confidence, praising the PM’s broader economic and cultural roadmap outlined during the Sixth Ramnath Goenka Lecture.

In his speech on Monday, PM Modi urged Indians to embrace local languages and questioned the long-standing influence of British administrator Thomas Babington Macaulay, whose 1835 education reforms promoted English as the primary medium of instruction. “Let the next 10 years be our resolve to free ourselves from this colonial mindset,” Modi said, adding that India must remain in “emotional mode, not election mode,” to serve its people.

Responding on X, Tharoor lauded the Prime Minister for articulating what he described as India’s “constructive impatience” for development and for framing the country not merely as an “emerging market” but an “emerging model” for the world. He also highlighted Modi’s comments on governance, noting the PM’s defence of his leadership style.

Tharoor further appreciated Modi’s emphasis on reversing the “200-year legacy” of Macaulay’s educational influence, though he remarked that it would have been fitting for the PM to acknowledge how Ramnath Goenka himself used English journalism to strengthen Indian nationalism.

Calling the address an effective blend of economic vision and cultural awakening, Tharoor said he was “glad to have been in the audience despite battling a bad cold and cough.”