Amending the Constitution is not possible with the current majority, MP Anantkumar Hegde said (File)
Six years since Anantkumar Hegde said the BJP would change the Constitution to do away with the word "secular" in its preamble, the BJP MP today exhorted voters to ensure a two-thirds majority for the party in Lok Sabha to amend the country's founding document.
The BJP 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", Mr Hedge 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.
"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 PM Modi has a two-thirds majority in Lok Sabha, and keep quiet, it is not possible," he said, as he stressed the BJP's need to have a two-thirds majority in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, and also win two-thirds of the states, to bring changes in the Constitution.
"PM Modi said, 'Ab ki baar 400 paar (This time it will be above 400 seats). Why more than 400? We have a two-thirds majority in Lok Sabha, (but) in Rajya Sabha we don't have a two-thirds majority. We have a small majority. In state governments, we don't have an adequate majority," Mr Hegde said.
The NDA winning more than 400 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls would eventually help muster a similar majority in the Rajya Sabha and come to power in two-thirds of the states, he said.
Pointing out that in the recent Rajya Sabha polls 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 pass 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.
"Now government plans to implement it through an amendment. If not, the law and order will go out of hands and anti-nationals will have a free run," he said.
"If we win more than 400 Lok Sabha seats, we can win the assembly seats. Because of this more than 20 states will come to us, and we will have a two-thirds majority among the state governments," he said.
In 2017, Mr Hegde, the then Union Minister of State for Skill Development, courted controversy for his comments about changing the Constitution.
Seeking to end the controversy that stalled parliamentary proceedings at the time, Mr Hegde subsequently apologised in the Lok Sabha after a nudge by the Speaker but maintained his statement was distorted.
Reacting to Mr Hegde's statement today, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress chief DK 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 said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)