Congress MP Shashi Tharoor once again stirred controversy within his party after he praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On Tuesday, Tharoor shared on X that he attended a private event in Delhi where the Prime Minister spoke about “India’s constructive impatience for development” and stressed the growth of a post-colonial mindset.
Tharoor said the Prime Minister highlighted that India is no longer just an “emerging market” but an “emerging model” for the world, pointing to the country’s economic resilience through global crises like the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine. “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, recounting the speech, which also addressed the colonial impact on India’s education system.
A part of the Prime Minister’s address, Tharoor noted, focused on overturning Macaulay’s 200-year legacy of a “slave mentality.” Modi called for a 10-year national mission to restore pride in India’s heritage, languages, and knowledge systems. Tharoor described the speech 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.”
Visuals from the event showed Tharoor seated between former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad. The Prime Minister referred to Thomas Babington Macaulay, a 19th-century British MP, who introduced the Western education system in India, promoting English as the official language of instruction. Modi said Macaulay had broken the backbone of India’s traditional education system, giving British language and thinking greater recognition and leaving India with a legacy of self-doubt and inferiority.
Tharoor’s praise of Modi is likely to deepen tensions with his party, as this is not the first time he has spoken positively about the Prime Minister. Relations between Tharoor and the Congress have been strained, particularly since he led an opposition delegation abroad after the April 22 Pahalgam attack, returning to India for debriefing with the Prime Minister. Previous comments by Tharoor calling Modi a “prime asset for India” and praising his handling of crises had already sparked speculation about a possible switch to the BJP, which Tharoor has consistently denied.
Tharoor has clarified that his comments are about national unity, not party allegiance. In June, he said, “It is not a sign of my leaping to join his party… as some people have, unfortunately, been implying. It is a statement of national unity.” He also stressed his loyalty to the Congress and its ideology over the past 16 years.
Tharoor’s uneasy relationship with the party predates these incidents. He was part of the ‘G-23’ group, which critiqued the Gandhi family’s leadership and demanded reforms. He has also previously written critically about dynastic politics in India, highlighting how parties like the Congress, Samajwadi Party, DMK, Trinamool Congress, and National Conference remain family-led.
