Anil Antony, son of prominent Congress lawmaker and former Defence Minister AK Antony, who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday, stated that the Congress has now begun “prioritising the interests of two-three individuals.”
Speaking to ANI, 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,” added Antony.
In another setback for the Congress, Anil Antony, the son of former Defence Minister AK Antony, joined the BJP in Delhi on Thursday.
In the presence of Government Ministers Piyush Goyal and V Muraleedharan, Anil Antony joined the BJP. Kerala BJP chief K Surendran, as well as senior party leaders Tarun Chugh and Anil Baluni, were in attendance. Anil Antony expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for including him in the 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.
After Anil Antony joining BJP, his father and Congress veteran AK Antony said his son has taken a wrong move adding that the decision has pained him.
“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,” AK Antony, who is considered as a close aide of the Gandhi family, told mediapersons in Thiruvananthapuram.
According to the former cabinet minister, the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are eroding India’s constitutional ethos. He stated that he will work for the Congress till his last breath.
“BJP believes only in uniformity. Till my last breath, I will oppose all the wrong policies of RSS and BJP. They are destroying the country’s constitutional values. I will die as a Congress worker. I am 82. I do not know how long I will live, ” added the Congress veteran.
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.
