NEW DELHI: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's use of an old metaphor for Prime Minister Narendra Modi has left the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) fuming. Soon after Tharoor took the reference of an old quote by calling "Modi like a scorpion sitting on a Shivling", the BJP has asked for an apology from Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
The BJP said that Tharoor has abused the sanctity of Shivling and Lord Shiva and Rahul should apologise for the same. "While Rahul Gandhi claims himself to be a Shiv bhakt, one of his small leaders has almost abused the sanctity of Shiv Linga and Lord Mahadev by referring to chappal attack through named sources," Union Minsiter Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
"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," the Union Minister added.
Speaking at Bengaluru Literature Festival, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor recalled an old quote mentioned in a story published in 2012 where an unnamed Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) member had used a metaphor to criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"There's an extraordinarily striking metaphor expressed by an unnamed RSS source to a journalist, - 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 said.
Tharoor was referring to a quote by an RSS member mentioned in a story on Narendra Modi in 2012 in the Caravan magazine. The 7-page story titled The Emperor Uncrowned ended with this quote from a local RSS leader.
Tharoor has recently published his book "The Paradoxical Prime Minister" which is critical of the dispensation under Narendra Modi.
Tharoor said that that with more mob lynchings, proliferation of gau rakshaks, ghar-wapsi, love-jihad and a dramatic rise in communal violence, "the elephant in the room" could no longer be ignored.
