evidence: "There’s an extraordinarily striking metaphor" with which an RSS member expresses the organisation’s frustration with its "inability to curb Modi", Tharoor claimed. He then cited an RSS functionary as saying: "Modi is like a scorpion sitting on a Shivling, you cannot 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 [between RSS and Modi]," Tharoor said. "If you remove a scorpion with your hand, you will get stung very badly. But if you hit a Shivling with a slipper, you undermine all the sacred tenets of the faith you all know that the scorpion is sitting on." [...] "While Rahul Gandhi claims himself to be a Shiv bhakt, one of his small leaders has almost abused the sanctity of shivling and Lord Mahadev by referring to chappal attack through named sources," Prasad said, according to ANI. "Rahul Gandhi, you claim yourself be to a Shiv Bhakt, please reply to this very horrific denunciation of Lord Mahadev by giving apology to what Tharoor has done."