Countering attacks against the BJP over the Manusmriti, Hegde said “Smritis” were like the Constitution in ancient times. Countering attacks against the BJP over the Manusmriti, Hegde said “Smritis” were like the Constitution in ancient times.

STATING THAT while they would “respect” the “word secular” since the Constitution mentions it, Union Minister of State Anantkumar Hegde said on Sunday that the BJP had come to power to “change the Constitution” and would do so in the “near future”.

Addressing an event organised by the Brahman Yuva Parishad in Koppal district of Karnataka, Hegde also heaped scorn on “secularists”, saying they were like “people without parentage”.

“There is a new culture now of secularists. If someone says I am a Muslim, or I am a Christian, or I am a Lingayat, or I am a Hindu, I feel very happy because he knows his roots. But these people who call themselves secularists, I don’t know what to call them,” said Hegde.

READ | Prakash Raj on Anantkumar Hegde’s ‘cheap comments’: Being secular doesn’t mean you don’t identify with any religion

“They are like people without parentage or who don’t know their bloodline. They don’t know themselves. They don’t know their parents, but they call themselves secular. If someone says I am secular, I get suspicious. I hope there are no secularists here,” he said.

“A few people say the Constitution mentions the word secular, so you have to agree. Because it’s there in the Constitution, we will respect it, but this will change in the near future. The Constitution has changed many times before. We are here and have come to change the Constitution. We will change it,” said Hegde, who is the Union Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship.

Countering attacks against the BJP over the Manusmriti, Hegde said “Smritis” were like the Constitution in ancient times. “They talk about Manusmriti today, but it’s ancient. Today, what is being used is Ambedkar Smriti, and before that was the Parashar Smriti. Smriti simply means ancient laws. If you don’t know history, you are foolish,” he said.

The Karnataka Congress was quick to condemn Hegde’s remarks. “Anantkumar has no culture. He does not know political or parliamentary language, or even the social system in India. How can he change the Constitution, they cannot make India a Hindu Rashtra. There are 125 crore people in India and all of them are Indians… only Brahmins cannot be glorified,” said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

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