Very wrong decision: AK Antony on son Anil Antony joining BJP

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After Congress veteran AK Antony's son Anil Antony joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the former Defence Minister said his son has taken a wrong move adding that the decision has pained him.

"I am pained by my son Anil's decision to join the BJP. I strongly feel it is a very wrong decision. India's base is unity and religious harmony. After 2014, the Modi government came to power, they are systematically diluting diversity and secularism," AK Antony, who is considered as a close aide of Gandhi family, told mediapersons here.

The former union minister alleged that BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are destroying India's constitutional ethos.

He said he will be a Congress worker till his last breath.

"BJP believes only in uniformity. Till my last breath, I will oppose all the wrong policies of RSS and BJP. They are destroying the country's constitutional values. I will die as a Congress worker. I am 82. I do not know how long I will live, " added the Congress veteran.

In another setback to Congress, former Defence minister AK Antony's son Anil Antony joined BJP in Delhi on Thursday.

Anil Antony joined the BJP in the presence of Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and V Muraleedharan. Kerala BJP chief K Surendran and senior party leaders Tarun Chugh and Anil Baluni were also present at the occasion.

Anil Antony thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his induction into BJP.

After joining BJP, Anil Antony met party chief JP Nadda along with Union Minister V Muraleedharan.

The development comes months after Anil Antony, who was a Kerala Congress Social Media Team Coordinator, resigned from all posts of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee in January following the row over BBC's documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He strongly criticised the BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which was apparently a move against the party lines. Anil Antony had hit out at the BBC terming it "a state-sponsored channel with a long history of prejudices" against India.

"Despite large differences with BJP, I think those in India placing views of BBC, a UK state-sponsored channel with a long history of prejudices, and of Jack Straw, the brain behind the Iraq war, over Indian institutions is setting a dangerous precedence, will undermine our sovereignty," Antony tweeted.

He then alleged that he had received threat calls and hate messages "through the night".

While posting about his resignation on Twitter, Antony mocked the Congress party by saying that he received intolerant calls to retract a tweet by those "fighting for free speech".

"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," Anil K Antony said in a tweet.

The development comes a year before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.