Review of Constitution will lead to grave consequences: Mallikarjun Kharge

NEW DELHI: Congress today warned in Lok Sabha of serious consequences if any attempt was made to review the Constitution, drawing sharp reaction from the government which said the opposition should not issue any threats.

Parliament can amend the Constitution, which has already been done over 100 times, but it is altogether a different thing to review it, Leader of Congress Mallikarjun Kharge said while participating in a debate on the 'Commitment to the Constitution'.

"If someone tries to review the Constitution, there could be... (grave consequences)," he said, while contending that earlier such attempts have met with failure.

BJP members including Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu protested against his remarks and demanded that these be expunged as these were objectionable.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said she would expunge the objectionable words.

Kharge, who spoke for over an hour, also rejected the criticism that nothing was done in the last 65 years saying that several projects were initiated by Jawahar Lal Nehru towards building a modern India.

It was only because of the initiatives taken by the Congress government that it had become possible for the Centre to implement laws like Right to Food Act and Right to Education, he said.

The Congress leader said it was not correct on the part of Home Minister Rajnath Singh to object to introduction of words like 'socialist' and 'secular' in the Preamble of the Constitution.

The Home Minister came out with a strange definition of secularism, Kharge said, adding "it should be our dharma to follow the spirit of the Preamble" of the Constitution.