Anil Antony, son of Congress stalwart and former Defence minister AK Antony, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday, in the presence of union ministers Piyush Goyal and V Muraleedharan.
Anil was the digital media convener of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and the national coordinator of the All India Congress Committee.
Antony slammed the Congress leadership for working for a “single family” instead of working for the country. When asked if he consulted his father before joining the BJP, he said, “This is not about personalities, this is about difference of opinion and ideas. I strongly believe that I have taken the right step. My respect for my father will remain the same.”
He had resigned from Congress in January, a day after he tweeted his views on the controversial BBC documentary, saying that placing the views of the “state-sponsored channel with a long history of prejudices” will “undermine” India’s sovereignty.
“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 (sic)”, he tweeted on January 25.
In his resignation letter to the party leadership, Anil Anthony led a scathing attack on Congress. “However, by now I have been made well aware that you, your colleagues and the coterie around the leadership are 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 wrote.
The BBC documentary row
The BBC released a two-part documentary titled ‘India: The Modi Question’. The first part was released on January 17, which focused on the role of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots. The second part, which examined the Modi government’s track record following his re-election in 2019 was released on January 24.
While the documentary was not released in India, links to the documentary were shared on Twitter and YouTube, as well private messaging apps.
On January 20, the Centre used emergency powers available under the Information Technology Rules, 2021, to issue directions to YouTube and Twitter to block clips of the documentary from being shared.