In January of this year, Antony left the Congress after objecting to a BBC programme about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the presence of Union ministers Piyush Goyal and V Muraleedharan, Anil Antony, the son of former Union minister and Congress leader AK Antony, joined the BJP on Thursday. After going against the grain of his party and criticising a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Antony left the Congress in January of this year.
“Today, several Congress workers and leaders believe it is their ‘dharma’ to work for a family. My ‘dharma’ is to work for the country,” Anil Antony stated after joining the BJP. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a very clear vision of putting India in a leading place in a multi-polar world,” he further stated. Antony had then said he was quitting Congress over “intolerant calls to retract a tweet”. “I have resigned from my roles in Congress. 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 Antony, who headed Congress’ IT wing in Kerala, had tweeted.
“I have resigned from my roles in Congress. 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 Antony, who headed Congress’ IT wing in Kerala, had tweeted. The controversy erupted after Antony termed the BBC documentary on Modi a “dangerous precedent”.
“Despite large differences with BJP, I think those in India placing views of BBC, a (UK) state sponsored channel with a long history of India prejudices, and of Jack Straw, the brain behind the Iraq war, over Indian institutions is setting a dangerous precedence, it will undermine our sovereignty,” Antony had tweeted. Anil Antony wrote in his resignation letter, “Considering the events from Tuesday, I believe it would be appropriate for me to leave all my roles in the Congress – as the convenor of the KPCC digital media, and as the national coordinator of AICC social media and digital communication cell.”
“Kindly consider this as my resignation letter. I would like to thank everyone, especially the Kerala state leadership and Shashi Tharoor, along with countless party workers, who had wholeheartedly supported and guided me at various times, during my brief period here,” he had stated. “I am sure that I have my own unique strength which could have enabled me to contribute very effectively to the party in several ways. However, by now, I have been made well aware that you, your colleagues and the coterie around the leadership are only keen to work with a bunch of sycophants and chamchas, who would unquestionably be at your beck and call.
This has become the lone criterion of merit. Sadly we don’t have much common ground,” he further mentioned. “I would prefer to continue with my other professional endeavours without being fed this negativity and being involved in these destructive narratives, many against the very core interests of India. These I strongly believe will end up in the dustbin of history with time,” he concluded.