AK antony, congress mp, kerala
Even for his ideological rivals, one scene will always remain in their minds as vintage AK Antony stuff… then Kerala Chief Minister, now Union Defence minister, vacating his chief ministerial bungalow with just a picture of his mother. The man, who a few people uncharitably call parsimonious, has few belongings even
now.
Never scared to take a principled stand, even opposing late Indira Gandhi on imposing Emergency, Antony has been known always as a ‘people’s politician’. In fact, commoners in Kerala admire him as the Lal Bahadur Shastri of the South. “Political differences apart, Antony is among the very few admirable politicians in Kerala. Though he belongs to a bourgeoisie party like Congress, all of us respect and adore him as a leader of the masses,” says CPI leader and MLA from Cherthala, the native place of Antony, P Thilothaman. That says something, coming from a partisan Red politician!
Antony has always been famous for his values and simplicity. While he was the Kerala CM, Opposition members joked about his elaborated simplicity: lunch at the Secretariat canteen, travelling by an Ambassador car. Veteran journalist Harihar Swarup once wrote about Antony’s austere living in Delhi: his sole possession at the ministerial residence was a transistor. And for Congress Vichar Vibhag vice-chairman and KPCC member Jayaprakash Panicker, Antony is a seed that Congress can sow anywhere without worrying about the crop.
His wife Elizabeth, who works as a bank officer, owns some land and a few gold ornaments. Antony has no other wealth of his own. He was born in a poor Roman Catholic family and had to struggle at every step, hardships that steeled him. Despite his religious background, he fought the church and its ills all his life, so much so that he was branded as a heretic....Continue
Even for his ideological rivals, one scene will always remain in their minds as vintage AK Antony stuff… then Kerala Chief Minister, now Union Defence minister, vacating his chief ministerial bungalow with just a picture of his mother. The man, who a few people uncharitably call parsimonious, has few belongings even
now.Never scared to take a principled stand, even opposing late Indira Gandhi on imposing Emergency, Antony has been known always as a ‘people’s politician’. In fact, commoners in Kerala admire him as the Lal Bahadur Shastri of the South. “Political differences apart, Antony is among the very few admirable politicians in Kerala. Though he belongs to a bourgeoisie party like Congress, all of us respect and adore him as a leader of the masses,” says CPI leader and MLA from Cherthala, the native place of Antony, P Thilothaman. That says something, coming from a partisan Red politician!
Antony has always been famous for his values and simplicity. While he was the Kerala CM, Opposition members joked about his elaborated simplicity: lunch at the Secretariat canteen, travelling by an Ambassador car. Veteran journalist Harihar Swarup once wrote about Antony’s austere living in Delhi: his sole possession at the ministerial residence was a transistor. And for Congress Vichar Vibhag vice-chairman and KPCC member Jayaprakash Panicker, Antony is a seed that Congress can sow anywhere without worrying about the crop.
His wife Elizabeth, who works as a bank officer, owns some land and a few gold ornaments. Antony has no other wealth of his own. He was born in a poor Roman Catholic family and had to struggle at every step, hardships that steeled him. Despite his religious background, he fought the church and its ills all his life, so much so that he was branded as a heretic....Continue
