On April 6, Anil Antony, son of senior Congress leader and former Defence Minister AK Antony, who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said Congress has now started ‘prioritising the interest of two-three individuals’.
Anil Antony said, “This has been a very decisive decision in my life. A few months back, I quit Congress because there was a difference of opinion regarding a documentary (BBC), which I believe was an attack on our sovereignty and integrity.”
“Congress party now is not the Congress I knew when I was growing up. It is not even the party that existed five years back. Now Congress has lost all interest…Party now has started prioritising the interest of two- three individuals,” Antony added.
On April 6, in another setback to Congress, former Defence Minister AK Antony’s son Anil Antony joined BJP in Delhi.
Anil Antony joined the BJP in the presence of Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and V Muraleedharan. Kerala BJP chief K Surendran and senior party leaders Tarun Chugh and Anil Baluni were also present at the occasion.
Anil Antony thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his induction into BJP.
Taking to Twitter, Anil Antony said, “Thank you! Excited to start a new journey in life. Thank Narendra Modi ji, Amit Shah ji, JP Nadda ji, BL Santhosh ji and the BJP leadership for giving me the opportunity to join the party on its 44th foundation day and contribute towards the PM’s vision to transform India into a developed country by 2047. Thanking Piyush Goyal ji, V Muraleedharan ji and K Surendran ji for welcoming me into the party today evening.”
After joining BJP, Anil Antony met party Chief JP Nadda along with Union Minister V Muraleedharan.
AK Antony, who is considered as a close aide of the Gandhi family, father of Anil Antony and Congress veteran told mediapersons in Thiruvananthapuram “I am pained by my son Anil’s decision to join the BJP. I strongly feel it is a very wrong decision. India’s base is unity and religious harmony. After 2014, the Modi government came to power, they are systematically diluting diversity and secularism”.
The development comes months after Anil Antony, who was a Kerala Congress Social Media Team Coordinator, resigned from all posts of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee in January following the row over BBC’s documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He strongly criticised the BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which was apparently a move against the party lines.
Anil Antony had hit out at the BBC terming it “a state-sponsored channel with a long history of prejudices” against India.
“Despite large differences with BJP, I think those in India placing views of BBC, a UK state-sponsored channel with a long history of prejudices, and of Jack Straw, the brain behind the Iraq war, over Indian institutions is setting a dangerous precedence, will undermine our sovereignty,” Antony tweeted.
He then alleged that he had received threat calls and hate messages “through the night”.
While posting about his resignation on Twitter, Antony mocked the Congress party by saying that he received intolerant calls to retract a tweet by those “fighting for free speech”.
“I have resigned from my roles in @incindia, @INCKerala. Intolerant calls to retract a tweet, by those fighting for free speech. I refused. @facebook wall of hate/abuses by ones supporting a trek to promote love! Hypocrisy thy name is! Life goes on,” Anil K Antony said in a tweet.
The development comes a year before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
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