Anil K Antony, BJP's Hope In Pathanamthitta (image@Anilkantony)
Anil K Antony is hopeful that he will be able to open a BJP account in Pathanamthitta this year. The national secretary and spokesperson of BJP has joined the party in last April. The Bharatiya Janata Party is confident that Anil K Antony, son of veteran Congress leader AK Antony, will win the Pathanamthitta seat as ‘he is very popular in Kerala’.
Anil Antony quit Congress days after he criticised the controversial BBC Documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his role in 2002 Gujarat Riot. The documentary, “India: The Modi Question” was not taken well by the BJP workers. While protest was going high, support came from an unlikely source, from former Kerala Chief Minister and prominent Congress leader AK Antony. He said placing the views if the British Broadcaster over Indian institutions would undermine the country’s sovereignty.
Soon after leaving Congress, he said many in the grand old party think that their duty is to work for one family, and his aim different from them, which is to work for the nation. He was running the Congress’ social media cell in Kerala before he left the party.
After joining BJP, Antony has sparked controversy in several occasions. He made a controversial comment about ‘Burqa’ the Muslim women attire. The controversial comment regarding an issue that took place in a bus between few students and a woman in Kasaragode district on his social media handle X.
He commented on the basis of fake narrative video of the Kasaragode bus incident. The claim made in the video suggests that Muslim women are preventing other women from traveling on public buses in Kerala without wearing a burqa. The incident was later found not about burqa. When the real story of the bus incident came out, Anil Antony removed the post from his social media account. He even added Hamas and Israel in the context by adding Fact Checker Muhammed Zubair, whom Antony mentioned as “jihadi fact checker”.
He claimed Congress and CPM are considering Hamas as a freedom fighters and not as “terrorists”. He said it is a “ominous signs” for Kerala, as the state is becoming a hotbed for fundamentalism and radicalisation, by being led by political parties like Congress and CPM. He also said that the major parties in Kerala view “terrorist activities” of Hamas a form of “armed resistance”. He cited the allegations of Hamas beheading babies and mutilating families on its October 7th attack, which was also largely debunked by several mainstream media.
He is all set to face former Kerala finance minister and CPM ideologue Thomas Isaac and sitting Congress MP Anto Antony in Pathanamthitta.
