Shashi Tharoor says his opinion personal amid Mahua Moitra row; ‘those who stand for nothing'
Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday said Mahua Moitra was being attacked for saying something that every Hindu knows.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday clarified that everything he tweets is his personal opinion a day after the Congress apparently distanced itself from what the Thiruvananthapuram MP commented on the onslaught his Lok Sabha colleague Trinamool MP is facing because of her comment on Hindu Goddess Kaali. Tharoor took to Twitter and said he does not have any other kind of opinion except personal. Quoting Alexander Hamilton, Tharoor wrote, "Those who stand for nothing, fall for anything." Also Read: Shashi Tharoor says Mahua Moitra attacked for saying what every Hindu knows, 'Bring it on, BJP,' says TMC MP
At a time when Trinamool Congress publicly denounced Mahua Moitra's statement that Kaali is a "meat-loving and liquor-accepting" goddess, the Lok Sabha MP got support from Shashi Tharoor who said Mahua Moitra was being attacked for saying something that every Hindu knows. What devotees offer as bhog to the goddess says more about them than about the goddess, Tharoor said.
The comment brought Shashi Tharoor too under fire and Congress spokesperson Ragini Nayak said what Shashi Tharoor said was not the stand of the party. "The Congress party's clear stand is that like Gandhiji said; religion is a matter of personal faith for a person. But we should also be careful that we don't do anything that hurts sentiments of a person from another religion. It is the duty of everyone to ensure that," she said.
BJP's Amit Malviya attacked Shashi Tharoor and demanded a statement from Congress president Sonia Gandhi on the issue. Criticising Tharoor's comment on the row, Amit Malviya questioned why the "secularists" select and apply their views only to Hindus and their deities. "Mamata Banerjee’s politics, steeped in brazen minority appeasement, is the reason why her MP made that outright insulting comment on Maa Kaali. TMC must suspend her, ask WB police to file FIR. Sonia Gandhi must also clarify Congress’s stand on it after Shashi Tharoor’s support…," he tweeted.
The Congress MP who is not new to 'malicious manufactured controversy', as he said, had a lot of firefighting on Twitter as Manipal Global Education chairman TV Mohandas Pai accused Tharoor of being a "big hypocrite". "Did you support the FOE of Nupur? You may not agree like many do not, but her life is threatened and you keep quiet Ok stand for principles not this selective politics," Mohandas Pai wrote attacking Tharoor.
"Dear @TVMohandasPai, if you can’t tell the difference between a Hindu lady insulting the Prophet of Islam and a Hindu lady describing ways in which devotion is expressed to a Hindu goddess, then I’m afraid you’re beyond redemption," Tharoor wrote in reply.
