Uproar in Rajya Sabha as Congress slams Union Minister Hegde for remarks on India's Constitution

Ananth Kumar Hegde had said that seculars don't know their parentage and that his party would change the Indian Constitution to remove the word 'secular' from it.

Photo courtesy: ANI

New Delhi: Congress on Wednesday came out all guns blazing against Union Minister Ananth Kumar Hegde's remarks about changing the Indian Constitution. There was a massive uproar in Rajya Sabha against the comment made by the minister earlier this week.

Leading the attack was Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad who slammed Hegde and questioned his right to be a member of Parliament. "If a person has no belief in the Constitution, he has no right to be a member of Parliament," he said on the floor of the house.

A Minister who doesn't believe in the constitution, should he be in the cabinet? It is the basic question. The Minister must come to the house & tender an apology to the house & the nation, if he doesn't he should be suspended from the cabinet: GN Azad, Cong on #AnanthKumarHegde pic.twitter.com/dsPgZ0JF8Y

— ANI (@ANI) December 27, 2017

Hegde had stoked controversy during a function in Koppal district of Karnataka when he said that the ruling party would change the Constitution because it has the word 'secular.'  "Seculars do not know what their blood is. Yes, Constitution has given that right to say 'we are secular and we will say it'. Yes, I know but Constitution has been amended many times, we will also amend it. We have come to power for that," the 49-year-old minister had said. "If you say you are a Muslim, Christian etc., I feel proud that you have a connection with your religion and caste, but who are these so-called seculars? Seculars don't have any parentage."

This is not the first time that Hegde has made a controversial remark. Last year, he was booked for allegedly making derogatory remarks against Islam.

In November, he refused to participate in the annual Tipu Jayanti celebration in Karnataka, as BJP, unlike Congress, views the Mysore ruler as a tyrant monarch and considers him of being biased against Hindus.

(With agency inputs)