KALABURAGI

27 December 2017 01:13 IST

Taking serious exceptions to Union Minister Anant Kumar Hegde’s recent remarks referring to secularists and intellectuals and his calling for changing the Constitution, senior Dalit leader and former Zilla Panchayat member Gurushanth Pattedar announced ₹ 1 crore cash reward for those who slit the tongue of the minister.

He was addressing a media conference at Patrika Bhavan here on Tuesday.

“Union Minister Anant Kumar Hegde’s remarks in a recent public meeting referring to secularists are not just objectionable but also amount to sedition. The country’s political system is based on the Constitution in which the objective of secularism is enshrined.

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“Mr. Hegde himself became a Minister in the very same political process that the Constitution mandated... With his remarks, Mr. Hegde has insulted the Constitution and the nation.

“I hereby announce a cash reward of ₹ 1 crore for those who cut Mr. Hegde’s tongue within a month from now,” he said.

Referring to Mr. Hegde’s call for changing the Constitution, Mr. Pattedar warned that any effort to change the Constitution would result in bloodshed across the country.

He called upon the people to teach a lesson to communal forces that were attempting to divide the country along caste and communal lines.

Dalit leaders Marutirao Kamble, Sanjeev Male, Shivakumar Madri, Santosh Ankalagi, Suresh Hirapur and others were present.