Daijiworld Media Network

New Delhi, Apr 27: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s statement that an unknown RSS leader had compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a 'scorpion sitting on a shivling' has landed him in trouble.

A Delhi court has issued summons to Tharoor to appear before it on June 7, following a criminal defamation complaint filed by Delhi BJP leader Rajeev Babbar, who has said his religious sentiments were hurt by the Congress leader’s statement.

In October 2018, while speaking about his book 'The Paradoxical Prime Minister' at the Bengaluru Literature Festival, he said an RSS leader’s comparison of Prime Minister Modi to 'a scorpion sitting on a Shivling' was an extraordinarily striking metaphor.

"You can't remove him with your hand and you cannot hit it with a 'chappal' (slipper) either," he said. "The personality cult of Prime Minister Modi has not gone down well with the RSS and has been a cause of frustration within its ranks," he added.

Babbar filed the complaint alleging Tharoor made the statement with mala fide intention, which not only denigrated the Hindu deity but was also defamatory.

The complaint states, "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.

"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," it adds.

The complaint also describes Tharoor's statement as an 'intolerable abuse' and 'absolute vilification' of the faith of millions of people.

The complaint was filed under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), relating to defamation. Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Samar Vishal is hearing the criminal defamation suit.