New Delhi: Senior Congressman Shashi Tharoor urged the country to be restless for progress on Tuesday, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Ramnath Goenka Lecture served as both an economic outlook and a cultural call to action. Tharoor noted that Prime Minister Modi called for a ten-year national mission to revive pride in India’s culture, languages, and knowledge systems. He expressed his hope that the PM had also recognized Ramnath Goenka’s use of English to advocate for Indian nationalism.
“Last night, at the invitation of @IndianExpress, I attended PM Narendra Modi’s Ramnath Goenka Lecture. He passionately advocated for a post-colonial perspective and discussed India’s “constructive impatience” for progress, he said on X. Overall, the PM’s speech urged the country to be restless for advancement and provided both an economic outlook and a cultural call to action. The Congress leader stated, “I’m glad to have been in the audience despite having a bad cold and cough.”
The PM emphasized that India is “no longer just a ’emerging market’ but a ’emerging model’ for the world, noting its economic resilience,” according to Tharoor. PM Modi claimed that although he was frequently accused of being in “election mode,” he was instead in “emotional mode” to address the issues facing the populace. Overturning Macaulay’s 200-year legacy of “slave mentality” was a major focus of the speech, according to Tharoor.
“To restore pride in India’s traditions, languages, and knowledge systems, PM Modi called for a ten-year national mission. The senior Congress politician remarked, “I wish he had also acknowledged how Ramnath Goenka had used English to raise a voice for Indian nationalism.” Tharoor’s comments regarding the PM’s speech came just days after the Congressman sparked a controversy by claiming that it is unjust to reduce veteran BJP leader L K Advani’s many years of service to a single, noteworthy incident. He was responding to criticism on his birthday wishes for Advani.
The Congress distanced itself from his comments, claiming that Tharoor speaks for himself and that the party’s liberal and democratic values are reflected in the fact that he still does so as a CWC member. Tharoor had previously declared that it is time for India to exchange “dynasty for meritocracy” and that dynastic politics across the political spectrum represent a “grave threat” to Indian democracy. Tharoor’s comments were seized upon by the BJP, which described them as a “very insightful piece” on how Indian politics has turned into a family enterprise.
The PM’s Ramnath Goenka Lecture Functioned as a Cultural Call to Action and Economic Outlook: Tharoor
