Uproar in RS as Hegde wants ‘secular’ out of Constitution

Some people say the Constitution says secular and you must accept it. We will respect the Constitution, but the Constitution has changed several times and it will change in the future too. We are here to change the Constitution and we’ll change it soon.

Anant Kumar Hegde, Minister of State

new delhi — The Rajya Sabha was on Wednesday repeatedly adjourned over Minister of State Anant Kumar Hegde’s “amend the Constitution” remarks as the Modi government distanced itself from the comments.

Hegde had on Monday criticised the word “secular” and said the BJP government would “amend the Constitution” to remove the word from the Preamble. The upper house was first adjourned soon after it met for the day. The second adjournment was made till 2pm minutes after it met at noon as despite the government disowning Hegde’s comments the din continued.

Opposition members vociferously raised the Hegde issue after a fourday

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar speaks in the Lok Sabha in New Delhi on Wednesday during the ongoing winter session of Parliament. —

break amid continued logjam over Congress’ demand for an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks against his predecessor Manmohan Singh.

Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad lashed out at the government and the Bharatiya Janata Party and said if any person lacked faith in the Indian Constitution, he did not deserve to be in the House or in the government. “The minister PTI

Minister Ananth accuses opposition of twisting Hegde’s comment

has no trust in the Constitution and has no right to be the minister. He has no right to be a member of parliament either,” Azad said.

The Union Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship at a function in Kukanur in Karnataka on Monday urged people to “claim with pride that they are Muslim, Christian, Lingayat, Brahmin, or a Hindu” and said: “Those who, without knowing about their parental blood, call themselves secular, they don’t have their own identity...They don’t know about their parentage, but they are intellectuals.

“Some people say the Constitution says secular and you must accept it. We will respect the Constitution, but the Constitution has changed several times and it will change in the future too...We are here to change the Constitution and we’ll change it soon.” —