Shashi Tharoor’s “scorpion” has come back to sting him in the eye. A Delhi court has sent summons to the Congress leader, ordering his presence before the bench on 7th June 2019. This is in response to a complaint over his defamatory remark that an unnamed RSS leader had compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “a scorpion sitting on a Shivling”.
In a speech at the Bangalore literature festival last year, Shashi Tharoor had claimed that Modi’s “personality cult” had not sat very well with many people in the RSS. He said, “There is an extraordinarily striking metaphor expressed by an unnamed RSS source to a journalist which I quote, in which they express their frustration with their inability to curb Mr Modi. The man says Modi is like a scorpion sitting on a Shivling. You cannot remove him with a hand and you cannot hit it with a chappal either.”
In light of this, Delhi BJP leader Rajeev Babbar had filed a criminal defamation complaint against Tharoor stating that his religious sentiments were hurt by the Congress leader’s statement. The complaint was filed under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal heard the complaint and issued the summons on Saturday.
The complaint, describing Tharoor’s statement about ‘scorpion on a Shivling’ as an “intolerable abuse” and “absolute vilification” of the faith of millions of people, stated, “I am a devotee of Lord Shiva…. However, the accused (Tharoor) completely disregarded the sentiments of crores of Shiva devotees, (and) made the statement which hurt the sentiments of all Lord Shiva devotees, both in India and outside the country.” He further added, “The complainant’s religious sentiments were hurt and the accused deliberately did this malicious act, intending to outrage the religious feelings of Lord Shiva devotees by insulting their religious belief.”
Not only is the statement by Shashi Tharoor defamatory to the RSS and the Prime Minister; but it also insults the religious sentiments of the people in the country. He has made a highly insulting statement, deliberately aimed at maligning the Prime Minister’s stature along with disrespecting the holy deities in the country. Moreover, this case is in addition to his pending criminal case as Shashi Tharoor is also facing a case of abetment of suicide in connection with the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar, in 2010.
With his fine English nuances, Tharoor has been getting away with quite a few blatant statements. Although this time around, the interpretation is crystal clear, pointing towards the criminality of the Congress leader.