PM Modi slams 'colonial mindset' says 'India is lectured on environmental conservation'

New Delhi [India], November 26 : Highlighting India's efforts to achieve goals of the Paris Agreement on environmental conservation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called for doing away with a "colonial mindset", which is giving rise to many distortions and efforts are made to block India's growth.
Addressing the Constitution Day celebrations organised by the Supreme Court at Vigyan Bhawan, the Prime Minister said, "Today there is no nation in the world that exists as a colony of another nation. But this does not mean that the colonial mindset has ended. This mindset is giving rise to many distortions. We can see a clear example of this in the hurdles cropping up in the development journey of developing nations. Efforts are made to close the means and path for the development of developing nations."
"But it is unfortunate that in our country too, due to such a mentality, obstacles are put in the path of development. Be it in the name of freedom of expression or something else. We are the only country in the process of achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement ahead of time. And yet, in the name of the environment, various pressures are created on India. All this is the result of colonial mentality," stated Prime Minister.
Referring to COP26 Summit, he said India is lectured on environmental conservation. Prime Minister said India is a nation where nature is embedded in its tradition.
"Where God is seen even in plants, where the land is worshipped as the mother. For us, these values are not just confined to books," he said.
"The issue of environment is also being attempted to be hijacked for this purpose. We saw an example of this in the recent COP26 Summit. If we talk of absolute cumulative emissions, developed nations have caused 15 per cent more emissions than India since 1850 till date," emphasized PM Modi.
Prime Minister said that India's Constitution is the biggest strength and inspiration to counter the colonial mindset. He said government and the judiciary complement each other as both of them originated from the Constitution.
"Both the government and the judiciary are originated from the Constitution. Hence, both are twins. These two have come into existence only because of the constitution. So, from a broader perspective, the two complement each other even though they are different," he added.
He said that the Constitution was made in light of the dreams of the people who lived and sacrificed lives for freedom and cherished the great tradition of India for thousands of years.
The country is celebrating Constitution Day on 26 November (today) to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution of India by the Constituent Assembly in 1949.
The observation of Constitution Day started in 2015, based on the vision of the Prime Minister to give due recognition to the significance of this historic date.