Kaali poster row: `It`s obvious Mahua Moitra wasn`t trying to offend,` Shashi Tharoor defends TMC MP

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor tweeted in support of TMC MP Mahua Moitra after she faced criticism for her comments on Goddess Kaali.

New Delhi: After Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra faced backlash for her comments on Goddess Kaali, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor stepped up to her defense in a series of tweets. The TMC MP came under scrutiny after, at an event, she said that she interpreted Goddess Kaali as a 'meat-eating' and 'alcohol-accepting' god. She had made this comment amid an ongoing controversy over a film poster which depicted a woman dressed as Goddess Kaali, holding a cigarette. 

Mahua Moitra wasn't trying to offend: Shashi Tharoor

Mahua's own party TMC distanced itself from her comment in an official statement. Similarly, the BJP also raised objections to Moitra's statement. However, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, on Wednesday, tweeted that he is 'taken aback by the attack' on TMC MP Mahua Moitra.

He said, "I am no stranger to malicious manufactured controversy, but am still taken aback by the attack on @MahuaMoitra for saying what every Hindu knows, that our forms of worship vary widely across the country. What devotees offer as bhog (offering) says more about them than about the goddess".

"We have reached a stage where no one can say anything publicly about any aspect of religion without someone claiming to be offended. It's obvious that @MahuaMoitra wasn't trying to offend anyone. I urge every1 to lighten up & leave religion to individuals to practice privately," he further said.

What did TMC MP Mahua Moitra say?

Moitra had made headlines when at India Today Conclave, she said, "Kaali to me, is a meat-eating, alcohol-accepting goddess. You have the freedom to imagine your goddess. There are some places where whiskey is offered to gods and in some other places it would be blasphemy."

She further said that there are different religious offerings and rituals in different regions. "When you go to Sikkim, you will see that they offer whiskey to Goddess Kali. But if you will go to Uttar Pradesh and if you tell them that you offer whiskey to the goddess as ‘prasad’, they will call it blasphemy," she explained.