Forces with colonial mindset stalling India’s growth, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said India’s growth story is being disrupted by forces with a colonial mindset, including in the name of freedom of expression.

Addressing a Constitution Day event organised by the Supreme Court, he said a colonial mindset still exists, years after the end to colonialism, and these forces are putting obstacles in the path of growth of the developing nations.

“We are the only country that is in the process of achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement ahead of time and yet, in the name of environment, various pressures are being created on India. All this is the result of a colonial mindset,” he said.

“But the unfortunate thing is that in our country too, due to such a mindset, obstacles are being put in the path of development, sometimes in the name of freedom of expression and sometimes with the help of something else,” he added.

The Constitution is the greatest strength to remove the obstacles being created by a colonial mindset, Modi said, adding that both the government and the judiciary are born out of the Constitution and, hence, are twins.

He said “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas” is a powerful manifestation of the Constitution’s spirit, and added that a government dedicated to the Constitution does not discriminate when it comes to development and “we have shown that”.

In a scathing attack on the Congress, he also said that the “biggest threat” to the functioning of a healthy democracy is when a party is run by a family generation after generation and its entire system is controlled by it.

Addressing a Constitution Day event in the Central Hall of Parliament, without naming anyone he hit out at family-based parties, describing them as “party for the family, party by the family” and added, “I don’t think I need to say anything more.”

The event was skipped by 15 Opposition parties, including the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India, which have been alleging that the government is “undermining parliamentary democracy”. The Congress said it did not participate in protest and to remind the country that the Constitution is not being respected and is being undermined instead.

Besides the constituents of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), parties such as the Biju Janata Dal, the YSR Congress, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Telugu Desam Party attended the event organised by the Lok Sabha Secretariat and Speaker.

Modi said to the gathering: “This event was not that of any government, or of any political party, or of any prime minister. The Speaker is the pride of the House. It is a dignified post. It is a matter of Babasaheb Ambedkar’s dignity, the dignity of the Constitution.”

On the spirit behind celebrating Co­n­stitution Day, Modi said it was during the 125th bir­th an­niversary of Ambedkar “we all felt that what could be a greater auspicious occasion than the gift that Babasaheb Ambedkar had given to this country, we should always remember his contribution in the form of a memory book (Smriti Granth)”.

The Constitution day was meant to pay homage to the far-sightedness of personalities such as Ambedkar, Rajendra Prasad, Mahatma Gandhi and all those who made sacrifices during the freedom struggle, he said.

The event was also addressed by President Ram Math Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

After the speech of the President, the nation joined him in reading the Preamble of the Constitution. President Kovind also released the digital version of Constituent Assembly Debates, digital version of calligraphed copy of the Con­stitution and updated version of the Constitution that includes all amendments till date.

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