Kangana Ranaut: 'We need to normalise obsessive work culture, can't afford to be lazy'

BJP MP from Mandi Kangana Ranaut on Tuesday said Indians can't afford to be lazy as the country is yet to become a developed nation. She stressed the need to "normalise obsessive work culture". She shared her thoughts in an Instagram Story, in which she posted a video clip of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the staffers of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) after he began his third term on Monday. 

"My every moment is for the country," Modi had said, asserting that he has promised to work round the clock to achieve the goal of India becoming a developed country by 2047. 

In her post, Ranaut wrote the concept of weekends was nothing but "western brainwashing". "We need to normalise obsessive work culture and stop with waiting for the weekends and complaining about Mondays memes. That's all Western brainwashing; we are not a developed nation yet, and we can't afford to be bored and lazy at all," she captioned her post. 

Ranaut has been elected from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh. She defeated Vikramaditya Singh, the son of six-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh and state Congress chief Pratibha Singh.

Earlier this month, Kotak AMC MD Nilesh Shah proposed 12 hours a day work culture. He said that one generation needs to put in a few extra hours like the way Koreans, Japanese, and Chinese do so that India grows at a faster pace. He suggested the Indians should work for 12 hours a day- every day, every month, and every year.

Economist Sanjeev Sanyal backed this idea, saying that a generation must work diligently yet also prioritise family and emphasize their role in India's progress. "I agree. One generation will have to put in that effort...and unlike the examples mentioned, also remember to procreate. It is doable (with the occasional break). We are that generation and perhaps the next one," Sanjeev Sanyal wrote on X. 

(With inputs from PTI)