Temple, statues a diversionary tactic by govt, says Tharoor

Congress leader Sashi Tharoor yesterday accused the central government of using religion and statues as part of its agenda to distract people from its own failures.Referring to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s plan install a statue of Ram in the state and the recent unveiling of the world’s tallest ‘Statue of Unity’ in Gujarat, Tharoor said it was like the gladiator contests during the Roman Empire, where people were distracted from oppression.“When you ask why a Rs390 gas cylinder today costs Rs970 or why the Rs3.70 tax levied on per litter of petrol by the UPA government is up to Rs19.48, they (the Bharatiya Janata Party) talk about Ram temple, Ayodhya, Statue of Unity and so on. These are distractions,” Tharoor said.“The erection of statues reminds me of old days of Roman Empire when people were distracted of their own oppression by circuses...Thus spectacle becomes a substitute of the substance of the reality,” he said.Claiming the government has failed to perform, the Congress MP said such spectacles suit the government well as they help in hiding the sufferings of people.“This suits the agenda of a government that has failed to perform. When the government is unable to deliver, it is very happy to encourage debate and distractions,” Tharoor said.“The people and the media should move away from these distractions and focus on the realities. The Indian ‘aam admi’ (commoners) has been suffering for the last four-and-a-half years and all you see in the media are these stories,” he added.Tharoor also said he was “surprised” by a criminal defamation complaint against him for his alleged “scorpion” remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as it questioned an author’s right to freedom of expression and hoped that the baseless case would be dismissed forthwith.Pointing out that he had quoted the remark of an unnamed Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh activist mentioned in a 2012 article, Tharoor claimed he had done nothing wrong but was ready to defend himself, if at all a legal notice was sent on this matter.“It was not my comment. In describing the relation between the RSS and the prime minister, I quoted a 2012 article from a magazine called The Caravan, where an unnamed RSS activist made the comment to the journalist. So if at all there was a defamation, it happened in 2012 and not now, and it happened from the RSS, not from Shashi Tharoor,” the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha member told reporters in Kolkata after his party’s interactive manifesto consultation programme.“I was surprised to hear about the defamation suit. I hope that the judge will throw (it) away on the basis of the actual fact, but if not, we certainly have to defend it. If there is a legal process, we will let it play out. Now-a-days our courts are being used as instruments of political persecution... if the judge issues a notice to respond, we will respond,” he said.BJP leader Rajeev Babbar yesterday filed a criminal defamation complaint against Tharoor in the Patiala House Courts for his comment that Modi was “a scorpion” and sought Rs50mn as compensation.Babbar told the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal that Tharoor made the statement with mala fide intention.“The statement of the accused was made with ulterior motives to malign the image of Modi and gain cheap political mileage in elections,” according to the complaint filed by Babbar’s lawyer Neeraj.“Moreover, the accused is a senior leader of Congress and a member of parliament so his speeches are likely to be taken more seriously and have the potential to create bad perception among the people,” the complaint said.Babbar said he was hurt by the comment as the statement was not only baseless but was also misleading and defamatory. He also told the court that he treats Modi as an inspiration, and has the highest regards for the prime minister.But Tharoor said he has used hundreds of such quotes from different credible sources in his book, adding raising questions on people’s right to quote from published documents was a blow to the freedom of expression in the society.He was referring to his latest book - The Paradoxical Prime Minister: Narendra Modi And His India - which was launched late last moth.“My book has quotes, some of which are even 150 years old. So, will somebody now file defamation because I have quoted somebody saying something about 150 years ago?” he questioned.“The environment of free expression and liberties to quoting what has been said at one time or another about political personalities is basic. When you start questioning the right of people to quote published materials, then where is our democracy heading to? Where is the freedom of expression in our society?” Tharoor said.