Can a Union Minister call for distorting the Constitution?

Amidst outrage and calls for the Election Commission to disqualify central minister Ananth Hegde, Tuesday saw a growing demand for the Union Government and the Prime Minister to clarify their stand and say if they endorsed his views.

Union Minister of State for Employment and Skill Development, Ananth Kumar Hegde is in the centre of another controversy after he said that his party, Bharatiya Janata Party, would "soon change the constitution" and described seculars as "people who don't have an identity of their parental blood." The minister went on to suggest that the Constitution would be better off without the idea of "secularism."

The 49-year-old minister was speaking at a function in Kukanur of Koppal district in Karnataka when he urged people to "claim with pride that they are Muslim, Christian, Lingayat, Brahmin, or a Hindu," adding, "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."

Hegde’s comments come months ahead of Karnataka assembly elections. The poll-bound state is witnessing a charged up political environment where the opposition BJP and the ruling Congress have already started gearing up for the election due by May next year.

The minister was further quoted by The Hindu as saying: “Progressive thinkers do not know about history, tradition and culture. Those who themselves have erred are trying to blame others for their mistakes.”

According to The News Minute, Hegde drew flak from all quarters for his comments including opposition leaders and groups of progressive thinkers in Karnataka. Members of Students’ Federation of India staged a protest against the minister’s comments.

The Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah slammed Hegde’s dig at secularists, saying that the Union minister did not respect the Constitution. “I do not want to stoop to his level. We know our language and culture. He is a Union minister, but spits venom.”

Criticising his opinion, actor Prakash Raj said that "Hegde, as an elected representative, stooped down very low by commenting on one's parenthood."

"Human Being's blood does not decide anyone's caste and creed," he posted on twitter. He further called out Hegde’s hate politics and said "secularism is respecting and accepting diverse religions.”

On Twitter, while extreme right-wingers have been celebrating his comments, others have criticised him, wondering how he is abusing the same constitution which he swore by to serve the country.

No stranger to controversies, Hegde had asked not to be invited to the state government’s “shameful” Tipu Sultan Jayanti event in October. In a tweet, he had referred to the event as one aimed at “glorifying a person known as brutal killer, wretched fanatic and mass rapist.” Days later he further said that if the state government could celebrate Tipu Jayanti, people would soon start celebrating “Ajmal Kasab Jayanti”.

A case was registered against him earlier this month for allegedly abusing Siddaramaiah at Kittur in Belagavi district.

Soon after he was appointed a minister CCTV footage of Hegde slapping a doctor was widely circulated. He was seen striking the doctor, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him against a wall. Mr Hegde was apparently furious because he felt the doctors were not paying enough attention to his mother, who had suffered multiple fractures after a fall at home.

Hegde, a five-time BJP Lok Sabha MP from Uttara Kannada in Karnataka, faced his first case of rioting, unlawful assembly and promoting enmity in 1993, when he was allegedly part of a rioting mob in Bhatkal.

In 1994, he caught the attention of RSS by dodging prohibitory orders in Hubli, north Karnataka and raised the Tricolour flag at disputed Idgah Maidan on Independence Day. Hegde, who has been a member the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and an activist of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Moracha, has also previously been booked for hate speech for making derogatory remarks against Islam. In March 2016, he was quoted as saying that “as long as there is Islam in this world, there will be terrorism”.