He served as a Member of the Rajya Sabha from 1985 to 1995 and again from 2005 to 2022. He was also elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly on five occasions from the constituencies of Cherthala (1970, 1996 and 2001), Kazhakootam (1977) and Tirurangadi (1995).
Early life and education
A. K. Antony was born to a Syrian Catholic family[7] at Cherthala, near Alleppey in Travancore[8] as the son of Arackaparambil Kurien Pillai and Aleykutty Kurian.[9] His father died in 1959 and Antony self-financed part of his education through odd jobs.[10]
Antony entered politics as a student leader in Cherthala Taluk (Alleppey District) as an activist of the Kerala Students Union under the guidance of M. A. John.[12] He has been an active leader of many strikes like Oru Ana Samaram (Single Penny Strike). He became the youngest president[13] of Kerala Students Union in 1966[13] and also served in the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) before becoming an All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary in 1984. When he became KPCC president in 1972, he was the youngest person to hold that post. He was elected again as KPCC president in 1987, and was defeated by Vayalar Ravi in the KPCC presidential elections in 1991.[citation needed]
Antony founded the Congress (A) political party when he split from the Indian National Congress (Urs), a splinter group of the Indian National Congress The party was primarily active in Kerala and joined the LDF ministry headed by E. K. Nayanar during 1980–1982. After the fall of the Nayanar ministry, the party merged with the Congress in 1982,[14] but Antony was not given any office until the death of Indira Gandhi. The members of the party have continued as a faction in the local congress afterwards.[15]
Following accusations in the Rajan case, K. Karunakaran resigned and Antony, the state Congress president was appointed as the sixth Chief Minister of Kerala,[16] on 27 April 1977 becoming the youngest Chief Minister of the state[13][17] at the age of 36. Antony subsequently contested a by-election from Kazhakuttam constituency in Trivandrum as he was not a member of the assembly and won by healthy margin of over 8 thousand votes. However, differences of opinion with Indira Gandhi and Karunakaran, especially over the emergency soon cropped up, leading to a fracture in the state Congress legislature party, with the two factions being led by Antony and Karunakaran respectively. Eventually, exactly one and half years after he had been sworn in as Chief Minister, he resigned from the post as well as the Congress party following its decision to field Indira Gandhi as the candidate in the by-election in Chikmagalur, Karnataka.[18]
Antony had to wait for over 15 years before becoming Chief Minister for a second term; again, on the back of Karunakaran's resignation this time over the controversial ISRO spy case. On 22 March 1995, after a week-long deadlock, Antony was sworn in as Chief Minister, despite stiff opposition from Karunakaran. This term also lasted only one year before the United Democratic Front led by Antony narrowly lost the assembly elections in May 1996. Thereafter, Antony served as Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly from 1996 to 2001.
In 2001, Antony led the United Democratic Front to a historic victory of 100 seats, with the Congress party winning its largest share of seats in the state assembly. On 17 May 2001, a triumphant Antony was sworn in as Chief Minister; for the first time, he was already serving as an MLA before taking the mantle of Chief Ministership.
However, his third term was extremely rocky and unstable, with Karunakaran refusing to cooperate with him and trying every tactic to overthrow him from office. This led to an erosion of public support as well as credibility. By the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress was a badly divided house and Antony had the disgrace of leading the party to its worst electoral performance since 1967. The final nail on the coffin was the defeat of K. Muraleedharan, the Electricity Minister in Antony's cabinet (incidentally Karunakaran's son) in the Wadakkanchery by-election, a seat widely perceived to be a Congress bastion. with his back on the wall, Antony had no option but to resign as Chief Minister.[13][17] He was succeeded by his close confidante, Oommen Chandy.
Antony carried out Asian Development Bank aided "Modernisation of Government Plan". He also liberalised education by allowing several private engineering and medical colleges to open in Kerala and championed the state as an investment destination.[citation needed] He also ordered the closure of the Kerala Coca-Cola plant in 2004 citing drought and the non-availability of drinking water.[26]
AK Antony presenting a copy of 'Sainik Samachar' to Marshal of the Indian Air ForceArjan Singh to mark the centenary celebrations of the Armed Forces' journal 'Sainik Samachar', in New Delhi in 2009
Antony was a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha between 1993 and 1995 and was the Minister for Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution for a year in 1994 during the tenure of Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao. He resigned on moral grounds as food minister in 1994 when his ministry was involved in a sugar import scandal, despite there being no allegations against him.[13][27]
In 2005, Antony entered the Rajya Sabha and was inducted into the Union Council of Ministers as Defence Minister following Natwar Singh's expulsion from the Congress and Pranab Mukherjee's transfer to the Ministry of External Affairs. After the Congress again won the elections in 2009 and formed the government once again under Prime MinisterManmohan Singh, Antony retained the portfolio of Defence for the second term becoming the longest-serving Defence Minister of India in a continuous stint for 8 years.[28][2] His "Buy and Make Indian" campaign saw the cancellation of billion of dollars in purchases of foreign arms, while at the same time stunting domestic production by restricting investments.[29]
In the Manmohan Singh Cabinet, Antony was the senior member of the Cabinet Committees on Accommodation, Economic Affairs, Parliamentary Affairs, Political Affairs, and Security.[30]
Antony's political skills and long experience in government have also led him to heading a large number of committees of Ministers in the government, a device that has been employed to obtain consensus within the members of the governing coalition on contentious issues.[32][33]
In order to professionalise the Civil Services, Antony led the decision on creation of a Central Civil Services Authority (CCSA) to oversee the higher bureaucracy.[34][35]
Antony is known for his incorruptible record and simple personal life[38][39] and his intolerance towards corruption in public life.[40][41][42] He was ranked among the top 10 Most Powerful Indians for the year 2012 by The Indian Express.[43]
Leaked diplomatic cables said Antony was one of the only two leaders, the other being P. R. Dasmunsi, who criticised Sanjay Gandhi during the 1976 AICC session in Guwahati during Emergency when the latter's political standing was on the rise, asking "what sacrifices he has made for the party or the country".[46]
Antony is married to Elizabeth who is a Kerala High Court lawyer[47] and is the founder of the Navoothan Charitable Foundation.[48] They have two sons.[49][50] In April 2023, his son Anil Antony joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.[51] Antony identifies himself as an atheist.[52]
^AK Antony served as Dence Minister of India from year 2006 to year 2014.
^Both are mixed higher secondary schools now and the latter has changed its name to Sree Narayana Memorial Government Higher Secondary school
Further reading
Swarup, Harihar (2010). Power Profiles. Har Anand Publications. ISBN9788124115251.
Bohlken, Anjali Thomas (2016). Democratization from Above: The Logic of Local Democracy in the Developing World. Cambridge University Press. ISBN9781107128873.
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