‘BSNL’s 85,000 employees traitors, will be fired’: BJP’s Anantkumar Hegde

Delhi: Former Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Uttara Kannada Anantkumar Hegde, no stranger to controversies, has stirred up another one by calling BSNL employees ‘traitors’ and ‘anti-nationals’ who would be fired as they refused to work.

In a video of an event in Kumta in his parliamentary constituency on Monday that has been widely shared, the MP was seen saying that the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited was a blot on the country as even after being provided money, infrastructure and a ready market, the telco’s employees just refuse to work.

“The only cure for that is privatisation which our government will do.

Some 85,000 will be fired and later on more need to be fired,’ he was seen saying in the video.  The opposition Congress criticised Hegde’s remarks, saying the comments only showed his own worth.

The party also said that the Centre was out to privatise everything and this indicated its inability to govern.

Hegde has been known to make controversial statements in the past as well.

Earlier this year, he said that the freedom movement led by Mahatma Gandhi was a “drama”, drawing severe criticism from the opposition parties including the Congress which even asked Prime Minister Modi to make his stand clear on Hegde’s remarks.

The former minister,however, later sought to down play the controversy, saying he never made any reference to any political party or Mahatma Gandhi and was just trying to “categorise freedom struggle”.