Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Karnataka, Anant Hegde, has stirred controversy and political storm with his statement that the party will amend the Constitution after securing two-thirds majority in the Rajya Sabha. However, the Indian National Congress (INC) has construed his remarks, by claiming that Hegde had said that the BJP would change the Constitution after winning majority in the Rajya Sabha, accusing the party of conspiring to ban the Indian Constitution.
Rahul Gandhi, who is currently leading the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, a campaign to revive Congress’s lost ground, wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “The statement of the BJP MP that he needs 400 seats to change the Constitution is a public declaration of the hidden intentions of Narendra Modi and his ‘Sangh Parivar’.”
He further added, “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, guarding 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. We will not let these conspiracies succeed along with the dreams of the freedom heroes and will continue to fight for the democratic rights guaranteed by the Constitution till our last breath. Every soldier of the Constitution, especially Dalits, tribals, backward and minorities, wake up, raise your voice – INDIA is with you.” (Archived link)
भाजपा सांसद का बयान कि उन्हें 400 सीट संविधान बदलने के लिए चाहिए, नरेंद्र मोदी और उनके ‘संघ परिवार’ के छिपे हुए मंसूबों का सार्वजनिक ऐलान है।
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 10, 2024
नरेंद्र मोदी और भाजपा का अंतिम लक्ष्य बाबा साहेब के संविधान को ख़त्म करना है। उन्हें न्याय, बराबरी, नागरिक अधिकार और लोकतंत्र से नफ़रत…
The Official X handle of INC wrote, “PM Modi’s favorite MP Anant Kumar Hegde has said that- If we (BJP) get 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, we will change the Constitution. This statement of PM Modi’s party MP shows that BJP and PM Modi hate the Constitution and democracy. His best effort is to destroy the Constitution given by Baba Saheb.” (Archived link)
PM मोदी के चहेते सांसद अनंत कुमार हेगड़े ने कहा है कि-
— Congress (@INCIndia) March 11, 2024
अगर हमें (BJP) लोकसभा चुनावों में 400 सीट मिली तो हम संविधान को बदल देंगे।
PM मोदी के पार्टी के सांसद का यह बयान बताता है कि BJP और PM मोदी संविधान और लोकतंत्र से नफरत करते हैं।
उनकी पूरी कोशिश है कि बाबा साहेब के दिए… pic.twitter.com/vdLl4aHfHm
Congress member K C Venugopal from the Rajasthan Constituency wrote, “The BJP has a forked tongue. With it, it conveys two messages – one for public decorum and the other is its Mann Ki Baat. What Anant Kumar Hegde said about altering the constitution is their Mann Ki Baat. In their heart, they have never stood for the Constitution or the core values it espouses. It believes in imposing duties on citizens, while snatching away their fundamental rights. Its parent organisation has wished for reservations to be done away with. And we are all witness to how Constitutional institutions like the ECI or the judiciary are being compromised, while principles of federalism and checks and balances are being disregarded. In reality, the Constitution is an inconvenience for the BJP’s autocratic plans. That’s why they aim for 400+ seats – to officially convert India into a dictatorship. However, democracy is in the veins of Indian society and it will reject these anti-Constitutional forces, who look to destroy Dr. Ambedkar’s Constitution.” (Archived link)
The BJP has a forked tongue. With it, it conveys two messages – one for public decorum and the other is its Mann Ki Baat.
— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) March 11, 2024
What Anant Kumar Hegde said about altering the constitution is their Mann Ki Baat. In their heart, they have never stood for the Constitution or the core…
Fact Check
In our fact checking research, we decided to first analyze Anant Hegde’s statement and verify whether he had indeed suggested that the BJP would change the Constitution if it secured a majority of seats. The video of Hegde addressing BJP workers in Siddapura taluk on Saturday, where he made remarks about the Constitution, which has now become a point of controversy, was viral on multiple platforms. However, it was challenging to verify his statement as Hegde made the statement in Kannada.
To address this challenge, we contacted a bilingual expert, who is also a native Kannada speaker, he confirmed that Hegde did not explicitly mention changing the Constitution. Instead, Hegde’s comments focused on amending or reforming the Constitution, which, according to him, contained fundamental changes made by the Congress and contained anti-Hindu policies designed to suppress the Hindu community.
His full statement is as follows, “To amend the Constitution, which was fundamentally changed/redrafted by the Congress, and introduce unwanted policies into it, especially laws that oppress the Hindu community. It is not possible to change all this with the majority we currently have. So we need 400+ seats.”
In the video shared by Republic Kannada on its YouTube channel, which contains Hegde’s statement, in the time frame of 0.31 seconds, he used the word “Tiddupadi“, which means “amendment” or “correction” in Kannada.
Also, on The News Minute’s X account, we found Hegde’s video with English subtitles. The subtitles reads, “PM Modi made a statement that we need to secure more than 400 seats this time. Why 400? We currently have a 2/3 majority in the Lok Sabha, but we lack a 2/3 majority in Rajya Sabha. We have a simple majority there. Additionally, we lack the required majority in the state governments. If we are to make amendments to the constitution, like the ones congress made, twisting the fundamental principles of constitution and introducing provisions and laws that oppressed Hindus, then this majority won’t suffice.”
In the video, in a time frame of 30 seconds, the word “Tiddupadi” can be clearly heard, which means he was not talking about the BJP changing the entire Constitution.
‘Will change Constitution if BJP gets 400+ seats in Lok Sabha’: BJP MP Anant Kumar Hegde pic.twitter.com/wmKrYkiT1c
— TheNewsMinute (@thenewsminute) March 10, 2024
Numerous media outlets covered Hegde’s remarks clearly stating that he had commented about the BJP amending the Constitution after winning the majority. The TOI reports stated, “Uttara Kannada BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde has ignited a controversy by saying that his party needs to win 400 Lok Sabha seats this time to “amend” the Constitution and erase the damage brought by the Congress over the years.”
Moreover, in a shocking display of double standards, members of the Congress party have taken a critical stance against BJP MP Hegde’s comments on amending the Constitution, and very conveniently ignore his history of amending the Constitution multiple times. It is not that the Constitution has not been amended or changed till now. Moreover, Article 368 of the Indian Constitution gives Parliament the power to amend the Constitution.
It is noteworthy that so far 106 amendments have been made in the Indian Constitution, most of which have been made by Congress. The first amendment was made in 1951 and thereafter more than 80 amendments were made to the Constitution by the Congress.
The most controversial amendments to the Constitution were made during Indira Gandhi’s tenure as Prime Minister. In 1971, Indira defeated Rajnarayan in the Lok Sabha elections from Rae Bareli seat by more than one lakh votes. Rajnarayan had filed a petition in Allahabad court accusing Indira of winning the election through unfair means. In 1975, Allahabad Court declared Indira’s victory illegal on charges of corruption and she was declared ineligible to contest elections for 6 years. The opposition took to the streets demanding her resignation from the post of PM. Meanwhile, to suppress the voice of opposition, Indira declared emergency.
During the Emergency, when opposition leaders were in jail, Indira Gandhi changed up to 40 articles in a single amendment. This is why the 42nd Amendment is also called the Mini Constitution and it remains the most controversial amendment till date. In this, three new words – socialist, secular and integrity – were added to the Preamble of the Constitution. This amendment appeared to give broad powers to the government.
What was the 42nd amendment? This amendment was made during the emergency which was imposed by Indira Gandhi. One of the controversial provisions of the 42nd Amendment was that over fundamental rights, it gave greater priority to the Directive Principles of State Policy, allowing authorities to restrict fundamental rights. The central government also gained the power to send army or police to the states to maintain law and order. Additionally, many state rights were placed under central control.
The important thing in the 42nd amendment made in 1976 was that the decision of the Parliament could not be challenged in the court on any basis.
Apart from this, Indira also took away the right of judicial review of emergency from the judiciary by passing the 38th amendment. About two months later, the 39th amendment to the Constitution was made, by which the Allahabad Court took away the right to inquire into the election of the person appointed to the post of Prime Minister. Under this amendment, Indira Gandhi continued to hold the post of Prime Minister.
Although Congress has brought many controversial amendments to the Indian Constitution, its critical stance against Anant Hegde is a striking display of hypocrisy. Not only this, Congress is distorting his statement and spreading misleading propaganda that Hegde had commented on changing the Indian Constitution, which is not true. In his remarks, Hegde talked about amending or correcting the policies brought by the Congress.
| Claim | Anant Hegde suggested that BJP will change the constitution after securing 2/3 majority in the Rajya Sabha |
| Claimed by | Rahul Gandhi, INC, K C Venugopal, and others |
| Fact Check | Misleading |
