Shashi Tharoor in awe of PM Modi after he speaks on shedding colonial mindset; risks ties with Congress

Senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, whose ties with the party leadership have been strained lately, has once again fuelled speculation by attending a private event in Delhi where Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on “India’s constructive impatience for development” and strongly vouched for shedding a “post-colonial mindset.”

Tharoor had recently courted controversy by launching a direct attack on Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi in an article he wrote on dynastic politics.

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And today, Notwithstanding the likely criticism from his Congress colleagues, Tharoor praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address at the event.

He said the PM “emphasised that India is no longer just an ‘emerging market’ but an ‘emerging model’ for the world,” noting the country’s economic resilience in surviving global shocks like the pandemic and navigating the conflict in Ukraine.

Attended PM @narendramodi’s #RamnathGoenkaLecture at the invitation of @IndianExpress last night. He spoke of India’s “constructive impatience” for development and strongly pushed for a post-colonial mindset.

The PM emphasized that India is no longer just an ’emerging market’… pic.x.com/97HwGgQ67N

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 18, 2025

“PM Modi said he had been accused of being in ‘election mode’ all the time… but he was really in an ‘emotional mode’ to redress the problems of the people,” Tharoor said on a post on X, recounting the speech, which highlighted the impact of colonialism on India’s education system.

Referring to the PM’s remarks on overturning Macaulay’s 200-year-old legacy of a ‘slave mentality,’ Tharoor said Modi called for flipping the wheel to restore national confidence.

The PM urged a 10-year national mission to revive pride in India’s heritage, languages, and knowledge systems, Tharoor stated.

“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…” Tharoor said.

Tharoor has been a staunch critic of the “colonial mindset” as is reflected by his work and public commentary. His major work on the subject, An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India (also published as Inglorious Empire), offers a scathing critique of British colonial rule and its enduring legacy.

PM Modi’s speech resonated strongly with Tharoor, whose own writings frequently highlight the damage left behind by the British.

“Glad to have been in the audience despite battling a bad cold and cough!” he wrote on X while appreciating the PM’s remarks.

Tharoor’s ties with the Congress leadership particularly deteriorated after he was sent on a delegation to brief international stakeholders about Operation Sindoor.