Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad demanded an apology from Congress president Rahul Gandhi
The Bharatiya Janata Party came out all guns blazing against Congress parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor over his remark that a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh source had likened Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a "scorpion sitting on a Shivalinga".
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad demanded an apology from Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
"Rahul Gandhi, you claim be to a Shiv Bhakt. Please reply to this very horrific denunciation of Lord Mahadev by giving an apology for what Tharoor has done," he said.
In the controversial remark that could come back to bite the Congress in the run-up to general elections as well as assembly polls, Tharoor said, "There's an extraordinarily striking metaphor expressed by an unnamed RSS source to a journalist, that Modi is like a scorpion sitting on a Shivalinga, you can't remove him with your hand and you cannot hit it with a chappal either."
"If you think about it, it is a very profound understanding of the relationship because if you remove a scorpion with your hand, you can get stung very badly, and if you hit the Shivalinga with a chappal, you undermine the sacred tenets you hold dear. Ultimately, you live with it in seething frustration."
Tharoor had made these remarks Saturday while speaking at the Bengaluru Literature Festival on his recently launched book "The Paradoxical Prime Minister: Narendra Modi And His India".
Responding to Prasad, Tharoor tweeted, "This comment (not by me) has been in the public domain for six years. RS Prasad making an issue of a 6yr old quote shows how little new the BJP has to offer the nation. As for media subserving the BJP's desire for "controversy", when will this "profession" develop any self-respect?" (sic)
DNA found the simile that Tharoor referred to in a profile piece of Narendra Modi written by Vinod K Jose in March, 2012 issue of Caravan magazine.
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