My son’s decision is wrong, painful: AK Antony on his son joining BJP

Veteran Congress leader and former Union minister AK Antony said that the decision by his son Anil Antony to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has caused him extreme pain. Speaking to the media on Thursday, April 6, Antony, who is 82, said that he is in his last days and will remain loyal to the Indian National Congress (INC) till his last breath. “I don’t know how long I am going to live, whatever it is I don’t wish for more days. I will be loyal to the Nehru family and INC,” said an emotional Antony.

Terming his son’s decision as wrong, Antony said that the Narendra Modi government is causing a threat to India’s unity, diversity, and secularism. “The unity of our nation is its diversity and secularism. Since 2014, after the Narendra Modi government came to power, there have been planned attempts to destroy these values. The BJP government has turned the country into an autocracy. The unity of the country has weakened. This is an immature stand (Anil’s decision),” Antony said.

The veteran leader said that he will raise his voice against the wrong ideologies of the BJP and RSS again. “The Nehru family stood for equality irrespective of religion, caste, race or language. They are still striving to protect the country. Though I had distanced myself from Indira Gandhi once, when I came back I was even more close, respectful, and loving to her and the family,” he said. Declaring that he will be a member of the INC till his last breath, Antony also said that hereafter he would not speak or respond to any reports about Anil, that this would be his last reaction to his son's decision.

Anil Antony joined the BJP earlier on Thursday. The development, which came as a major embarrassment to the Congress party, was announced by Union Minister Piyush Goyal at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi. Recently, Anil had indirectly supported Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's disqualification as Lok Sabha MP through a tweet.