New Delhi: Congress veteran AK Antony’s son, Anil Antony, announced his resignation from the Congress party on Wednesday, days after a tweet criticising the BBC documentary on Prime Minister Modi.
“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. Redacted resignation letter below,” said Antony in a Tweet and posted a portion of his resignation letter.
On Tuesday, Antony took to Twitter to state that, in spite of his differences with the Bharatiya Janata Party, those in India giving precedence to a BBC documentary over Indian institutions are undermining the sovereignty of the country.
He said that the BBC was a British state sponsored channel with a long history of prejudices against India, and former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, quoted in the documentary, was the “brain behind the Iraq war.”
His father, former Defence Minister AK Antony, who is close to Sonia Gandhi, raised many eyebrows in the Congress last December when he said that his party should take majority Hindus along in its ‘fight against Narendra Modi’ as minorities ‘aren’t enough’ for this. He had taken retirement from electoral politics in March last year.
Also read: A K Antony’s son opposes controversial BBC documentary on 2002 Gujarat riots
His opinion
In his letter, Anil Antony said that he’s quitting from all roles in the Congress, including as convenor of the Kerala Congress Digital Media wing as well as AICC National Coordinator for Social Media.
“I would like to thank everyone, especially the Kerala state leadership, and Dr. Shashi Tharoor, along with countless party workers who had wholeheartedly supported me and guided me at various times, during my brief period here,” the resignation letter read.
He added that while he believed that he had his own unique strengths, which would enable him to effectively contribute to the party in several ways, the “coterie around the leadership are only keen to work with a bunch of sychophants 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,” Anil wrote.
Anil’s father, AK Antony, was a former chief minister of Kerala with three terms as Union Minister, including that of the defence minister. He was considered to be a close advisor to former Congress president Sonia Gandhi. So much so that he’d been called to Delhi last year, right before the presidential elections in the party, when an “establishment candidate” was being picked.