Congress MP Shashi Tharoor landed in a controversy on Sunday after he referred to the quote of an unnamed RSS functionary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a nearly six-year-old magazine article.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor landed in a controversy on Sunday after he referred to the quote of an unnamed RSS functionary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a nearly six-year-old magazine article.
“This personality cult has not sat very well with many in the RSS establishment. There is an extraordinarily striking metaphor expressed by an unnamed RSS source in which they express their frustration with their inability to curb Mr. Modi,” Mr. Tharoor said while speaking about his latest book, The Paradoxical Prime Minister: Narendra Modi and his India, at the Bangalore Lit Fest on October 28.
The man [unnamed RSS source] says Mr. Modi is like a scorpion sitting on a Shivling. You cannot remove him with your hand and you cannot hit with a chappal eitherAnd If you think about it, that’s a very very profound understanding of the relationship. Because if you try to remove a scorpion with your hand, you will get stung yourself badly. If you hit the Shivling with chappal, then you undermine all the sacred tenets of the faith that you hold [on Shivling] on which scorpion is sitting.”
Mr. Tharoor said that could well be a very interesting clue to the rather complex dynamics that existed between the Hindutva movement and Moditva expression on it.
The quote of the unnamed RSS person has been part of a profile of Mr. Modi in the Caravan magazine.
Minister’s response
Union Minister Ravishankar Prasad accused Mr. Tharoor of disrespecting Lord Shiva. “I seek a reply from Rahul Gandhi, who claims himself to be a Bhakt of Lord Shiva, on this horrific denunciation of Hindu gods by a Congress MP. Rahul Gandhi must apologise to all Hindus,” he tweeted.
Refusing to respond to questions at a Congress event later, Mr. Tharoor accused the media of distorting and quoting out of context.
Mr. Tharoor took to Twitter to clarify, saying the metaphor had been taken out of context and that his book cites and footnotes The Caravan article.
He further said that the comment (not from him) has been in public domain for six years. Mr. Prasad making an issue of a 6 year old quote shows how little new the BJP has to offer the nation.
“This personality cult has not sat very well with many in the RSS establishment. There is an extraordinarily striking metaphor expressed by an unnamed RSS source in which they express their frustration with their inability to curb Mr. Modi,” Mr. Tharoor said while speaking about his latest book, The Paradoxical Prime Minister: Narendra Modi and his India, at the Bangalore Lit Fest on October 28.
The man [unnamed RSS source] says Mr. Modi is like a scorpion sitting on a Shivling. You cannot remove him with your hand and you cannot hit with a chappal eitherAnd If you think about it, that’s a very very profound understanding of the relationship. Because if you try to remove a scorpion with your hand, you will get stung yourself badly. If you hit the Shivling with chappal, then you undermine all the sacred tenets of the faith that you hold [on Shivling] on which scorpion is sitting.”
Mr. Tharoor said that could well be a very interesting clue to the rather complex dynamics that existed between the Hindutva movement and Moditva expression on it.
The quote of the unnamed RSS person has been part of a profile of Mr. Modi in the Caravan magazine.
Minister’s response
Union Minister Ravishankar Prasad accused Mr. Tharoor of disrespecting Lord Shiva. “I seek a reply from Rahul Gandhi, who claims himself to be a Bhakt of Lord Shiva, on this horrific denunciation of Hindu gods by a Congress MP. Rahul Gandhi must apologise to all Hindus,” he tweeted.
Refusing to respond to questions at a Congress event later, Mr. Tharoor accused the media of distorting and quoting out of context.
Mr. Tharoor took to Twitter to clarify, saying the metaphor had been taken out of context and that his book cites and footnotes The Caravan article.
He further said that the comment (not from him) has been in public domain for six years. Mr. Prasad making an issue of a 6 year old quote shows how little new the BJP has to offer the nation.