Congress leader Shashi Tharoor stirred a controversy on Sunday when he quoted an RSS source to compare Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a “scorpion sitting on a Shivling”.
“There's an extraordinarily striking metaphor expressed by an unnamed RSS source to a journalist that ‘Modi is like a scorpion sitting on a Shivling, you can't remove him with your hand and you cannot hit it with a chappal either’,” Tharoor was quoted as saying by ANI.
The Congress leader, who was addressing the audience at the Bengaluru Literature Festival, added that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological mentor of the BJP, found it “extremely difficult” to “curb” the Prime Minister.
#WATCH Shashi Tharoor in Bengaluru, says, "There's an extraordinarily striking metaphor expressed by an unnamed RSS source to a journalist, that, "Modi is like a scorpion sitting on a Shivling, you can't remove him with your hand & you cannot hit it with a chappal either."(27.10) pic.twitter.com/E6At7WrCG5— ANI (@ANI) 28 October 2018
The statement soon led to a political furore, with Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad seeking an apology from Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
“Rahul Gandhi you claim yourself be to a Shiv Bhakt, please reply to this very horrific denunciation of Lord Mahadev by giving apology to what Tharoor has done,” he was quoted as saying by ANI.
Reacting to the row over his comment, Tharoor asked the media to listen to his speech again. He also responded to Prasad via a tweet, saying: "This comment (not by me) has been in the public domain for six years. RSPrasad making an issue of a 6yr old quote shows how little new the BJP has to offer the nation. As for media subserving the BJP’s desire for “controversy”, when will this “profession”develop any self-respect? (sic)"
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