evidence: The Supreme Court on Tuesday (September 10, 2024) stayed criminal defamation proceedings against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on the basis of a complaint over his alleged "scorpion on Shivling" remarks targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The court wondered why the expression "‘scorpion sitting on a Shivling’ he quoted about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which may even be a metaphor suggesting ‘invincibility’", was found objectionable. [...] Fact check |Did Shashi Tharoor compare Narendra Modi to a scorpion on a Shivling? [...] "The man [unnamed RSS source] says Mr. Modi is like a scorpion sitting on a Shivling. You cannot remove him with your hand and you cannot hit with a chappal either. And If you think about it, that’s a very very profound understanding of the relationship. Because if you try to remove a scorpion with your hand, you will get stung yourself badly. If you hit the Shivling with chappal, then you undermine all the sacred tenets of the faith that you hold [on Shivling] on which scorpion is sitting," Mr. Tharoor had reportedly said.