New Delhi: Maintaining that he is opposed to a ban on any documentary or book, Congress leader Anil Antony said that while he may not be seeking an active role in the party anymore, he is still very much a “Congressman”.
In an interview with ThePrint, Anil said he agreed with his father and veteran Congressman A.K. Antony’s opinion that the party cannot return to power in Delhi without taking the Hindu community along.
He also said that whatever happens next will in no way affect his father’s political legacy.
Anil resigned from party posts Wednesday after he was targeted over a tweet critical of the BBC’s two-part documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s handling of the 2002 Gujarat riots as then chief minister of the state.
In the tweet, Anil said that giving precedence to the views of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) — a “state-sponsored channel with a long history of prejudices” — over those of Indian institutions will set a “dangerous precedence (sic)”, and “undermine” India’s sovereignty. He also criticised former British foreign secretary Jack Straw, who was quoted in the documentary, referring to Straw as the “brain behind the Iraq war”.
The central government has banned the documentary, forcing platforms like YouTube and Twitter to remove any links to it.
Asserting that he was not in favour of banning a documentary or a book, Anil said, “In a democracy, freedom of speech and expression is one of the core essentials. But at the same time, I have concerns about where certain things come from. That doesn’t mean they should be banned.”
He added: “Second, if you create a thought process in the country such that certain people start believing that the views of a foreign institution are more credible than any domestic institution, then in the long run, it will affect our national sovereignty.”
On Wednesday, Anil resigned as chairman of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee’s (KPCC’s) digital team and as national coordinator of the party’s national social media team, citing “intolerant calls to retract a tweet”. In his resignation, he hit out at a “coterie around the leadership” made up of people “only keen to work with a bunch of sycophants and chamchas, who would unquestionably be at your (Gandhi’s) beck and call”.
“This (sycophancy) has become the lone criterion of merit. Sadly, we don’t have much common ground,” he remarked in his letter of resignation.
Anil confirmed to ThePrint that he has not resigned from primary membership of the party. “It is the only political party I’ve ever known and I have a deep affection for it. I won’t be able to say that for any other party.”
While insisting that he is not looking for an active role in the party anymore, at least for the time being, he said, “I’d just like to stick to my professional work. But life is long. A lot of things happened in the last 24 hours, which I never thought would happen in my dreams in the last 35 years. For example, never in my dreams would I have thought that one day I would just resign and say that I’m not working for this party at all.”
However, Anil was quick to clarify that taking a step back does not mean he will stop “being a Congressman”.
“The Congress ideology that I know since I started forming my thoughts at a young age — of working for a diverse, pluralistic, tolerant and inclusive India — still forms the foundation of my political viewpoints,” he added.
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‘Organisational discipline’, calls for expulsion
When ThePrint met him in Delhi Thursday, nearly 24 hours after he announced his resignation on Twitter, Anil said he was yet to speak to his father, who he said was at a wedding in the family’s home village in Alleppey.
“I still haven’t had time to chat with him. At some point, we’ll have that conversation. But I wouldn’t regret anything that has happened in the last 48 hours. I’d done it with the best of my intentions and understanding and in line with my convictions and conscience,” he added.
Anil revealed that he sent two resignation letters. The first was addressed to Kerala Congress chief K Sudhakaran and Anil’s mentor and KPCC digital media convener MP Shashi Tharoor. The other was addressed to Rahul Gandhi, general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal and general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh.
Though he is yet to discuss his resignation with his father, Anil said he had a conversation about it with his mentor. Asked about Anil’s tweet, Tharoor had termed his views “immature”, adding that a documentary could not influence the sovereignty of a county.
“He (Tharoor) gave me some friendly advice. Like, first of all, he said I shouldn’t have been so sharp in the letter. I kind of agree with that. Maybe emotions got the better of me,” said Anil, claiming that the two discussed Tharoor’s remarks on a phone call.
He added, “I didn’t say this documentary will destroy India’s sovereignty. Somehow, he felt that. He said one documentary can’t destroy India’s sovereignty and we’re on the same page on that. What I said is that certain trends can create scenarios which will erode our sovereignty in the long run. It was advice given in good spirits and I took it in good spirits.”
While Tharoor may have had a friendly word with him, Jairam Ramesh — Anil’s boss in the All India Congress Committee (AICC) — was not as kind. After his resignation, Ramesh posted a tweet, comparing him to Chandy Oomen, son of former Kerala CM Oomen Chandy.
“A Tale of Two Sons of Two CMs from the same state. One is a Bharat Yatri and walking tirelessly, mostly barefoot to unite our nation in the #BharatJodoYatra The other is reveling in his day in the sun today having ignored his duties to the Party and the Yatra. (sic),” Ramesh wrote.
On how he felt about Ramesh’s reaction, Anil said it was “completely understandable”.
He, however, added, “But at the same time, I don’t understand what duties he’s talking about. I had very clear duties in 2017 when I started working for the party. In 2019, 2020, and 2021, my duties were very specific. But this time (for the Bharat Jodo Yatra) I didn’t have any duties.”
He further said that at the end of the day, he was a full-time professional. “I’m an entrepreneur. I have a thriving career and unless I have something specific to do, I don’t think I’m at that stage in life where I can walk around without knowing what to do.”
Anil maintained that he did not understand the party’s extreme reaction to his tweet on the BBC documentary.
“I made it (tweet) with good intentions and there was nothing controversial about it in any manner. The way things turned out, I’m very surprised. I was clear that I have a lot of political differences with the BJP. But in the last few days, I saw narratives being played out and I don’t think such kind of narratives are good for the interest of the country,” he said.
According to Anil, a number of people including Youth Congress leaders considered close to the KPCC leadership demanded an apology from him and some even called for his expulsion from the party. “I’m fairly sure that they (Youth Congress leaders) were not making independent calls. It had to come from somewhere,” he said.
Stating that it was the abuse that prompted him to take a step back, Anil said, “Starting in the evening, there was this vicious round of cyber attacks, especially on my Facebook. Hate messages, abuses etc. These are all Congress profiles and I know where the attacks were coming from. All this disappointed me. These are not the political battles the party should be having if they have any kind of national electoral aspirations.”
Adding that the “viciousness” stemmed mostly from Kerala, Anil said he also received calls from “certain corners of the AICC” telling him that he was “breaking organisational discipline”. He, however, refused to divulge the names of the said AICC functionaries.
Congress positioning — Father, son on same page
Anil’s experience also raises a larger question about the country’s second-largest national party — how can the Congress position itself to make electoral gains given the multiplicity of views within the party?
Taking his father’s argument forward that the Congress must align with the majority community (Hindus) and the minorities to trounce the Narendra Modi-led BJP, Anil told ThePrint, “It is a fact that 80 per cent of this country belongs to a certain religion. When you try to create a political philosophy which is trying to ensure that the minority gets justice and is protected, you can’t do that by alienating the majority.”
“I’m sure the intentions are good, but when certain aspects are not taken into consideration, it creates a blind spot and makes us electorally unviable. It is showing in our electoral results,” he said.
Anil added that at the time of Independence, the Congress had people from Nehru to Bose to Patel, who represented all sides of the political spectrum.
“We (Congress) were an umbrella of all these ideological streams and took everyone with us. Personally, that’s what I feel India is. Diversity and plurality are our biggest strengths. If you have to represent India, you have to represent everybody.”
Referring to the statement A K Antony made last month about the need for the Congress to take the majority community along to defeat the Modi-led BJP, Anil said his father had made similar remarks in 2014. “These are thoughts that other people in the organisation also resonate with. Things like religion and culture are in the blood and bones of all people. And that doesn’t necessarily make anybody a good person or bad person.”
Anil maintained that whatever happens next will not affect his father’s political legacy in any way. “My father just ended his parliamentary career and moved back to Kerala after almost five decades. Now he’s very relaxed and happy in Thiruvananthapuram,” he said.
A close confidant of former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, A K Antony retired from electoral politics last year.
Referring to the times his father was accused of landing on the wrong side of the party line, Anil told ThePrint, “He was one of India’s youngest chief ministers at the time (1978) and revolted against Mrs (Indira) Gandhi.”
“He (A K Antony) quit as Union minister twice. He acted on the basis of his convictions and beliefs. We may differ in what we’re doing but the kind of decisions I make are based on my convictions. I would only feel guilty if I did something against my conscience,” he said.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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