BJP asks Karnataka MP Anantkumar Hegde to explain ‘Constitution has to be amended’ remark

Speaking at an event Saturday at Siddapur, Uttara Kannada district, Hegde said, “Constitution has to be amended as Congress people have fundamentally altered it by introducing some unnecessary things. Especially laws that subjugate the Hindu community. If all this has to change, it cannot be done without a two-third majority,” he said going on to explain the numbers required to amend the preamble of the Constitution.

The party would also need to come to power in more than 20 states for this, the six-time Lok Sabha MP from Karnataka said.

“Modi said — Ab ki baar 400 paar (This time it will be above 400 seats) — Why above 400?…We have two-third majority in Lok Sabha, (but) in Rajya Sabha we don’t have two-third majority. We have a small majority. In state governments, we don’t have an adequate majority,” Hegde said. He said NDA winning more than 400 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls would eventually help in mustering a similar majority in the Rajya Sabha, and coming to power in two-thirds of the states.

BJP leader Gaurav Bhatia said it is imperative that Hegde’s remarks reflect his personal views and not the party’s. “The BJP has taken cognizance of the statement made by Mr Hegde and has also asked for clarification from him. It must be reiterated that every step that is taken by the BJP, every decision that is taken by the BJP, is always in the interest of our country and in consonance with the spirit of the Constitution,” he said.

Distancing itself from the MPs remarks, the Karnataka BJP posted on X, “The MP Shri Ananth Kumar Hegde’s remarks on the Constitution are his personal views and do not reflect the party’s stance. @BJP4India reaffirms our unwavering commitment to uphold the nation’s Constitution and will ask for an explanation from Shri Hegde regarding his comments.”

The Congress was prompt to hit out at Hegde and the BJP with senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi saying that his remarks were a public declaration of the “hidden intentions” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Sangh Parivar.

“The ultimate goal of Modi and the BJP is to destroy Babasaheb’s Constitution. They hate justice, equality, civil rights and democracy. They want to turn India’s democracy into a narrow dictatorship by eliminating the Opposition through dividing society, enslaving the media, crippling independent institutions and shackling freedom of expression,” Rahul said.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said Hegde exposed “Modi-RSS’s devious agenda to impose dictatorship.” “The Modi government, BJP, and RSS secretly desire imposition of dictatorship, whereby they will impose their Manuwadi mindset and snatch away rights of SCs, STs and OBCs… there will be no elections, or at the most, just sham elections, independence of institutions shall be curtailed, freedom of expression bulldozed and the RSS and the BJP will destroy our secular fabric and unity in diversity,” he said.

“Such repeated calls by the BJP-RSS, from time to time, are a direct assault on the unquestionable ethos of sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic espoused by our Constitution makers. Justice, equality, and liberty are strong pillars of the Constitution and any change would be an insult to the India envisioned by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar,” he said.