Son Anil joins BJP, Antony says decision ‘really painful’

Anil Antony headed the digital media cell of the Congress’s Kerala unit until January, when he quit over the party’s objection to his tweet against the controversial BBC documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots.

At the BJP headquarters in Delhi, Anil said he joined the BJP because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi “who has a clear vision to place India in a prominent role in the emerging multipolar world”.

“Congress leaders think their duty is to work for one family. But I think it’s our duty to work for the nation,” he said, flanked by Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and V Muraleedharan.

“Our Prime Minister has a clear vision to place India in a prominent role in the emerging multipolar world. As a young Indian, it is my responsibility and duty to support it,” he added.

The event was also attended by Kerala BJP chief K Surendran and senior party leaders Tarun Chugh and Anil Baluni.

Sources in the BJP said the decision to induct Anil into the party was taken at the party’s ‘central level’. They said Anil had been in talks with the BJP leadership ever since he quit the Congress and had earlier this week met with BJP chief J P Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to finalise his joining.

The BJP, which has been struggling to expand its base in Kerala, has launched a series of efforts to woo the Christian community, a minority but influential group, realising the need for an ally to break through.

The party, which is also in a fierce battle with the Congress in nearby Karnataka, where the Christian community and the Church leadership are influential, believes Anil’s entry could blunt the fears among the minority community and also attract more Christian youths to the party.

Referring to Anil as a “faithful (of Christianity)” who holds “national interest above political interest”, Muraleedharan said his joining the party would prove wrong the campaign that BJP does not welcome non-Hindus”. “It is a befitting reply to those who spread it,” he said.

In Thiruvananthapuram, the senior Antony called his son’s decision to join the BJP wrong. “His decision is really painful. Till death I would be a Congressman. I am 82 years old. My life is in its last lap. I don’t know how I would live. After he (Anil) quit from party posts, I have not discussed it… This is my first and last reaction to this (son’s entry into BJP),” he told reporters at the Congress office.

The veteran Congress leader did not entertain questions on his son’s move but, in an apparent reference to Anil’s claim that the Congress is only for the Gandhi family, said his loyalty would “always be with that family”.

A K Antony also took a dig at the PM. “India’ unity is secularism and pluralism… When Modi came to power in 2014, there were steps to weaken this policy. After the 2019 elections, the country’s unity has been getting weakened,’’ he said.

When asked about his father’s response, Anil 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.”

Criticising the documentary on the Gujarat riots and PM Modi, Anil had called the BBC “a state sponsored channel with a long history of prejudices” against India.

At the BJP office Thursday, Goyal praised Anil’s stand and called him “a political and social warrior who has concerns about the future of Kerala and India”.

“The fact that he raised strong objections to the BBC documentary which sought to inflame tempers and raise completely unfounded baseless allegations against the honourable Prime Minister which was termed by Mr (Anil) Antony as an assault on India’s sovereignty and integrity, which obviously not liked by the Congress which at the same time was trying to use the British soil to attack all democratic institutions in India.”

The Congress, meanwhile, downplayed Anil’s move to join the saffron party. Kerala Congress president K Sudhakaran called it “betrayal”.

“He is like Judas Iscariot ( a Biblical character), who betrayed Jesus for 30 silver coins. Today (Maundy Thursday, which commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles) is the day when Judas committed the betrayal. Anil’s entry into BJP needs to be seen only as such a betrayal,” he said. “He has betrayed the Congress as well as A K Antony.”