Delhi HC says Shashi Tharoor’s comments against PM Modi ‘despicable’, refuses to quash BJP worker’s complaint

The Delhi High Court bench also vacated the stay on the proceedings which it had directed for in 2020.

In the 51-page verdict, the court observed, “Prima facie, the imputations against a sitting Prime Minister are despicable and deplorable and apart from defaming Shri Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, (complainant) also defame the Bharatiya Janata Party as well its office bearers and members”.

“It is also important to notice that the comment exemplifies that Shri Narendra Modi is unacceptable with many in the RSS establishment and compares the expression of their frustration, as dealing with a leader with the characteristics of a scorpion possessing a venomous instinct. The comments apparently not only defame Shri Narendra Modi but the party represented by him i.e. BJP, including RSS and the members of the party for having accepted the leadership. It cannot be ignored that the imputation against the legislative Head of a political party and the sitting Prime Minister of India has an important bearing on the image of the party, functionaries and the members of the party concerned and does not augur well to the system as it also impacts the electoral process”.

“This Court is of the considered view that the propagation of original comments in the manner done by the petitioner (Tharoor) amounts to defamation, considering the text and the relevant period during which the defamatory imputation is made by modifications and additions. The contention raised on behalf of the petitioner that the present complaint is not maintainable since no proceedings were initiated either against the concerned RSS worker or the Caravan magazine is without any merit since the imputations have been admittedly made by the petitioner in 2018 while the original quote as made in 2012 may not be of the same significance as then Shri Narendra Modi did not hold the same position. The comments also obliquely hurt the Hindu sentiments.”

In 2020, Shashi Tharoor moved a plea before the Delhi High Court challenging defamation proceedings against him based on a complaint by a BJP leader Rajiv Babbar, who was vice-president of the party’s Delhi unit. Tharoor challenged the summons issued to him by a magisterial trial court in the case and setting aside the order dated April 27, 2019, wherein he was summoned as an accused.

Tharoor, in October 2018, while addressing the audience at the Bangalore Literature Festival, had purportedly claimed that an unknown RSS leader had compared PM Modi to a “scorpion sitting in a shivling” which Tharoor had opined, was an “extraordinarily striking metaphor.” Tharoor’s counsel, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal submitted before the court that the said unknown leader was later revealed to be Gordhan Zadafia, who is now vice-president of Gujarat BJP, and the statement was from an article published in The Caravan, written by journalist Vinod K Jose.

Babbar claimed that his religious sentiments were hurt as were “crores of Shiva devotees”, in India and outside the country. Opposing Tharoor’s petition, Babbar through his counsel Senior Advocate Pinky Anand argued that the article had not named PM Modi. The maintainability of Tharoor’s petition before the HC was also challenged, which the court deemed to be “without any merits”.