Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who has developed a status of being controversy's favourite child over the years, is at the centre of all talking points yet again on Saturday. According to reports, a criminal defamation complaint has been moved in Delhi's Patiala House Court for his vexed remark targetting Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an event in Bengaluru.
"A criminal defamation complaint has been moved in Delhi's Patiala House Court against Congress's Shashi Tharoor over his remark 'Modi is like a scorpion on Shivling' made during an event in Bengaluru," the news agency ANI reported.
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Delhi BJP leader Rajeev Babbar, who filed the complaint, claimed that his religious sentiments were hurt by Tharoor’s statement. Babbar also dubbed the ‘Scorpion on Shivling’ statement an "intolerable abuse" and "absolute vilification" of the faith of millions of people.
"I am a devotee of Lord Shiva... However, the accused (Tharoor) completely disregarded the sentiments of crores of Shiva's devotees, made the statement which hurt the sentiments of all the Lord Shiva devotees, both in India and outside the country," the complaint read.
"The complainant's religious sentiments were hurt and accused deliberately did this malicious act, intending to outrage religious feeling of Lord Shiva devotees by insulting their religious belief," it added. The complaint was filed under section 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which deals with cases related to defamation.
As per the latest report, the Delhi court has adjourned the hearing and posted the matter for further hearing on November 16.
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Trouble found Tharoor, the vociferous Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram after he linked PM Modi to a 'scorpion sitting on a Shivling'. The Congress leader was addressing a gathering at the Bengaluru Literary Festival and claimed that an unnamed RSS leader had in 2012 compared Modi to "a scorpion sitting on a Shivling".
"There is an extraordinarily striking metaphor expressed by an unnamed RSS source to journalist Vinod Jose of 'The Caravan', who expressed their frustration with their inability to curb Modi," Tharoor said.
The remark by the RSS source depicted the "complex" dynamics that exist between the "Hindutva movement and the Moditva expression of it", he added.
In support of his statement, Tharoor had also shared the link of 'The Caravan' article in 2012, which quotes an RSS leader using the scorpion metaphor to describe Modi.
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Earlier, in August the Congress MP was under the spotlight after he spoke about Modi donning "outlandish" Naga and other headgear on his trips but refusing to sport a Muslim skull cap.
Tharoor also stoked a controversy, saying that no 'good' Hindu would favour a Ram temple in Ayodhya by demolishing somebody else's place of worship.
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