Modi govt will re-write constitution once it gets 400 seats in Lok Sabha: BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde

Karnataka BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde kicked up a major storm after he said that the Bharatiya Janata Party will re-write the Indian Constitution once it secures 400 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Speaking at a village in Haveri district on March 9, Hegde, who has often grabbed headlines with his controversial remarks, said that it was important for the BJP to get an absolute majority in both the houses of parliament and state governments to alter the constitution in favour of the Hindus.

"You all must help BJP to win over 400 seats. Why does the BJP need 400+ seats? Congress leaders in the past made changes to the constitution and made it in a way that it doesn’t put Hinduism in front. We need to change it and save our religion. We already have a two-thirds majority in Lok Sabha, and we do not have that in Rajya Sabha to amend the constitution. 400+ numbers will help us achieve that,” he said according to PTI news agency.

Responding to Hegde's comments, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on March 10 said that his comments are “a public declaration of the hidden intentions of Narendra Modi and the Sangh Parivar.”

“The ultimate goal of Narendra Modi and BJP is to destroy Baba Saheb's Constitution. They hate justice, equality, civil rights, and democracy. By dividing the society, enslaving the media, withholding the freedom of expression, and crippling independent institutions, they want to turn India's great democracy into a narrow dictatorship by conspiring to eliminate the Opposition.”

He said they would not let these “conspiracies” succeed along with the dreams of India’s freedom heroes and would “continue to fight for the democratic rights guaranteed by the Constitution till our last breath.”

Party chief Mallikarjun Kharge said the BJP MP's statement "yet again exposes Modi-RSS' devious agenda to impose dictatorship".

"The Modi Government, BJP and RSS secretly desire to impose a dictatorship, whereby they will impose their 'Manuvaadi mindset' on the people of India and snatch away the rights of SCs, STs and OBCs," he said in a post on X.

"There will be NO Elections, or at the most, just sham elections. Independence of institutions shall be curtailed. Freedom of expression shall be bulldozed. The RSS and the BJP will destroy our secular fabric and unity in diversity," Kharge alleged and asserted that the Congress would not allow these "ulterior motives" of the 'Sangh Parivar' to succeed.

He alleged that such repeated calls by the BJP-RSS, from time to time were a "direct assault" on the "unquestionable ethos of sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic espoused by our Constitution makers".

"Justice, Equality, and Liberty are the strong pillars of the Constitution and any change in these principles would be an insult to the India envisioned by Babasaheb Dr Ambedkar and our revered founders," the Congress chief said.

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