New Delhi: Delivering a fiery address at the Ramnath Goenka Lecture at ‘Excellence in Journalism Awards’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a nationwide call to arms: liberate India from the “slave mentality” planted by British colonialist Thomas Babington Macaulay nearly two centuries ago.
In a sweeping critique that linked Congress’s alleged patronage of Maoists and Urban Naxals to the destruction of India’s ancient education system, PM Modi declared that the next ten years will mark the final burial of Macaulay’s ghost.
“Almost every major state was once in the grip of Maoist terrorists. Who nurtured them? Congress gave birth to Maoists and Urban Naxals who openly rejected Bharat’s Constitution,” PM Modi thundered, adding that “the Maoists of the Muslim League have now become Congress municipal councillors.”
The remark, delivered hours after the NDA’s landslide victory in Bihar, drew sharp gasps and applause in equal measure.
Turning to the towering legacy of legend Ramnath Goenka, the Prime Minister hailed the ‘Indian Express’ newspaper founder as a warrior who defied British censorship as early as 1835—two decades before the 1857 revolt.
“Ramnath ji wrote in his editorial; I would rather shut down my newspaper than bow to British ideals. That fearless spirit is needed again today,” PM Modi said.
At the heart of his speech was a searing indictment of Macaulay’s 1835 Minute on Education.
“Macaulay wanted to create a class of people Indian in blood and colour, but British in taste, opinions, morals and intellect. He uprooted our glorious gurukul system—a beautiful tree that blended knowledge with skills, culture with pride—and replaced it with a factory that produced clerks ashamed of their own heritage,” PM Modi said.
PM Modi lamented that even after Independence, successive governments continued chasing foreign models.
“We kept looking westward for education, innovation, even language. We were taught to treat anything ‘imported’ as superior and anything swadeshi as second-class.”
He accused detractors of the National Education Policy of waging the same old battle.
“We are not against English; we are against the deliberate neglect of Indian languages. In which country are its own mother tongues treated like orphans?”
The Prime Minister announced a decisive national mission: “By 2035—exactly 200 years after Macaulay’s crime—India will be completely free from the mentality of slavery. In the next ten years, we will rebuild pride in our heritage, our languages, and our knowledge systems. This is my appeal to every citizen through the platform of the Indian Express.”
As the audience rose in ovation, PM Modi tied Goenka’s fearless journalism to India’s ongoing transformation.
“Ramnath ji fought colonial slavery with his pen. Today, we fight mental slavery with education, innovation and unbreakable self-confidence. The Indian Express has witnessed every chapter of this journey—and the most glorious chapters are yet to be written.”
(IANS)
