Constitution cannot be amended so easily: Omar Abdullah

Any attempt to play around with the Constitution will not be good for the country as it cannot be amended so easily, National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah said here on Thursday.

His remarks came in response to a reporter's question on the Congress alleging that the words ''socialist'' and ''secular'' have been dropped from the Preamble of the Constitution.

''The Constitution cannot be changed easily. To change the Constitution, you need a two-thirds majority. As far as I know, there has been no vote either in the Lok Sabha or in the Rajya Sabha about removing such words,'' Abdullah told reporters in the Handwara area of north Kashmir's Kupwara district.

He said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in its defence on the issue, had said since the occasion of moving the parliamentary proceedings from the old building to a new one was historic, it had circulated copies of the historic Constitution among the members.

''If that is correct, then we have no objection. But if they are playing with the Constitution, then, forgive me, it will not be good for the country because we have always said that if Jammu and Kashmir has acceded to India, it has acceded to Mahatma Gandhi's country and not the country of the RSS or Sangh Parivar,'' the NC leader said.

Asked if his party is hopeful about a positive outcome from the Supreme Court hearing a batch of petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, Abdullah said the NC has done whatever it could have and ''we are hopeful of (getting) justice''.

On Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha's reported assertion that 80 per cent of Jammu and Kashmir's population is happy with the current system of governance, he said let the Assembly polls be held to see if that is the case.

''We have not been able to see these 80 per cent people. If that is the case, then why are people coming to our programmes? Wherever there is an NC programme, people come. Let them hold the election. If this 80 per cent of the population stays away from it, then there is the (lieutenant) governor's (rule). We will have no objection,'' the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said.