Anil Antony, son of Congress veteran and former defence minister AK Antony joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday, months after quitting the Congress following his tweet criticising the controversial BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He joined the party in presence of Union ministers Piyush Goyal and V Muraleedharan.
His resignation from Congress
Anil had resigned from the party in January 2023, a day after he criticised the BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He had tweeted that putting the BBC documentary above Indian institutions would set a dangerous precedent.
Following the tweet, Anil said he received "intolerant calls" to delete it and received abusive and hate speech. After such a treatment, Anil said he has resigned from the Congress. He called flagged party's "hypocrisy".
Tweeting the redacted resignation letter, Anil said, "I have resigned from my roles in Congress and Kerala Congress. Intolerant calls to retract a tweet by those fighting for free speech. I refused. Facebook wall of hate/abuses by ones supporting trek to promote love! Hyprocrisy is thy name! Life goes on. Redacted resignation letter below."
In the resignation letter shared on Twitter, Anil said he does not have common ground with the Congress leadership as it only wants sycophants around it.
He wrote, "However, by now I have been made well aware that you, your colleagues, and the coterie around the leadership are only 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 had said, "Despite large differences with BJP, I think those in India placing views of BBC, a British state sponsored channel with a long history of India prejudices, and of Jack Straw, the brain behind the Iraq war, over Indian institutions is setting a dangerous precedence, will undermine our sovereignty."
Prior to his resignation, Anil was the Convenor of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) Digital Media and was the National Co-ordinator of All India Congress Committee (AICC) Social Media and Digital Communications Cell.
