Bangalore: Union minister Anant Kumar Hegde on Saturday called his critics "barking dogs" after a protest by Dalits during his visit to Bellary, prompting calls for his sacking.

A large crowd had blocked the car carrying the skill development and entrepreneurship minister to a job fair to protest his earlier remark about changing the Constitution.

Hegde, known for controversial remarks, had last month questioned the "parentage" of "secularists" and hinted at changes to the Constitution, which describes India as a secular republic.

After the Dalit protest, Hegde told the job fair on Saturday: "We will go ahead with this commitment (to build a 'skilled Bharat') and not care about barking dogs."

Mysore University professor and Dalit activist B.P. Mahesh Chandra Guru accused Hegde of "uncivilised, inhumane and below-the-belt politics".

"He is unfit to be a minister as he has disobeyed and insulted the Constitution on which he took the oath of office. It's high time the Prime Minister sacked him," Guru told The Telegraph.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been embroiled in a similar controversy in 2013 when, asked by an interviewer whether he regretted the 2002 riots, he had said it was "natural to be sad" if even a " kutte ka bachcha (puppy)" came under the wheels of his car.

The comment had provoked allegations that he had drawn an insulting comparison between puppies and the riot victims.

Actor Prakash Raj, a known BJP critic, slammed Hegde's comment, tweeting: "Enough is enough... serial offender... he calls Dalits DOGS... Supreme leaders of #bjp will you ask him to step down... or do you endorse his abuse."

Karnataka Congress president G. Parameshwara too condemned Hegde's remark. BJP spokesperson S. Prakash declined comment.

A five-time Lok Sabha MP from Uttara Kannada, Hegde was booked for hate speech in 2016 for a remark linking a religion to terrorism. He was inducted into the Union cabinet last August but continued with his controversial statements in public.

On December 25, he said: "Those claiming to be secularists lack clarity on their parentage."

Earlier, he had called Karnataka chief minister P.C. Siddaramaiah a "bootlicker" for celebrating Tipu Sultan's birth anniversary.