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‘O Mitron’ more dangerous than Omicron: Shashi Tharoor

Shashi Tharoor also claimed that “polarisation, promotion of hatred & bigotry, insidious assaults on the Constitution” are on the rise, as a result of which democracy is being weakened.

In an apparent jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday stated that ‘O Mitron’ is more dangerous than the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

He also claimed that “polarisation, promotion of hatred & bigotry, insidious assaults on the Constitution” are on the rise, as a result of which democracy is being weakened.

Reacting to this, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala slammed Tharoor for the jibe and asked whether the Congress can keep the COVID-19 pandemic above politics.

“Can Congress keep pandemic above politics? First Congress spread vaccine hesitancy & now it says Omicron isn’t dangerous — at beginning of Covid 19 Akhilesh said CAA is more dangerous than Covid. Do these people have no sense of responsibility?” he tweeted.

Tharoor has been attacking the government over the issue of polarisation. On January 29, the Thiruvananthapuram MP had shared a video of Yogi Adityanath and accused him of polarisation, saying the Uttar Pradesh chief minister had no idea how much damage he had caused to the country.

His latest statement came on a day when the Budget session of Parliament began on Monday amid a high-octane campaign for Assembly elections in five states.

On Sunday, the Congress gave a notice in Lok Sabha for moving a privilege motion against Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw for “misleading” the House on the Pegasus spyware issue.

Citing a report by The New York Times that India bought the Israeli spyware in 2017 as part of a $2-billion package for weapons, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who wrote to Speaker Om Birla seeking permission to move a privilege motion, said, “It appears that the Modi Government has misled the Parliament and the Supreme Court and lied to the people of India.”

As the Budget Session began, PM Modi on Monday said that elections would continue to be held but Parliament sessions should be used for open and effective discussions, which would take the country on the path of progress.

“I know frequent elections would have its impact on the session and the discussions we are having inside. But elections will have their own place and the session has its. The budget session is an important session and we should make it as effective as it can be,” Modi told reporters.