BJP however distanced itself from MP Anantkumar Hegde’s comment while stating that his ‘remarks are his personal views and do not reflect the party’s stance.’
(Image: X/Anantkumar Hedge)
While addressing a gathering in Karntaka’s Karwar region, the BJP MP said that the party needs a two-thirds majority in both houses of Parliament to amend the Constitution and “set right distortions and unnecessary additions made to it by the Congress”
Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde said on Sunday that to amend the Constitution, the public must ensure two-thirds majority for the saffron party in the Lower House of the Parliament.
Around six years ago Hegde had said the BJP would change the Constitution to do away with the word “secular” in its preamble.
While addressing a gathering in Karntaka’s Karwar region, the BJP MP said that the party needs a two-thirds majority in both houses of Parliament to amend the Constitution and “set right distortions and unnecessary additions made to it by the Congress.”
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.
BJP Distances Itself From Hedge’s Remark
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however distanced itself from MP Anantkumar Hegde’s comment while stating that his ‘remarks are his personal views and do not reflect the party’s stance.’
Taking to X, the saffron party said, “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.”
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.— BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) March 10, 2024
He further said, “If the Constitution has to be amended — the Congress fundamentally distorted the Constitution by forcefully filling unnecessary things in it, especially by bringing in laws that were aimed at suppressing the Hindu society — if all of this has to be changed it is not possible with this (current) majority.”
“If we think it can be done as Congress is not there in Lok Sabha and (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi has two-thirds majority in Lok Sabha, and keep quiet, it is not possible,” he said, as he stressed on the BJP’s need to have two-thirds majority in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and also win two-thirds of the States, to bring changes in the Constitution.
“Modi said — Ab ki baar 400 paar (This time it will be above 400 seats) — Why above 400? … We have two-thirds majority in Lok Sabha, (but) in Rajya Sabha we don’t have two-thirds majority. We have a small majority. In state governments, we don’t have an adequate majority,” Hegde added.
The BJP leader from Karnataka also said that 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-third of the states.
He also pointed out that in the recent Rajya Sabha polls held in Karnataka, three seats were won by the Congress, while BJP got only one, the MP said that if Congress’s number increases, any Constitutional amendment made by the BJP government would not get passed in the Rajya Sabha. Citing the example of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, he said that it was passed in the Lok Sabha and later in the Rajya Sabha “with effort”. But several state governments did not approve it, and hence it could not be implemented, he pointed out.
In 2017, Hegde, the then Union Minister of State for Skill Development, had courted controversy for his comments regarding changing the Constitution. Seeking to end the controversy that had stalled parliamentary proceedings at the time, Hegde had subsequently tendered an apology in the Lok Sabha after a nudge by the Speaker, but maintained that his statement had been distorted. Reacting to Hegde’s statement today, Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress chief D K Shivakumar said this showed that the BJP is anti-Constitution.
”Let him do it, amend the Constitution…this shows that the BJP government (at the Centre) and the BJP MP are against the Constitution given by Babasaheb Ambedkar. Let him get it stamped by the Prime Minister,” he told reporters in the district headquarters town of Mandya.
(with PTI inputs)
