Veteran Congress leader A K Antony gave a brief emotionally-charged response to his son Anil Antony's decision to join the BJP.
Standing amid a crowd at the entrance of the KPCC Headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, Antony sought to counter his son's shift in political allegiance by unequivocally reaffirming his indebtedness and allegiance to the Nehru family.
It seemed Antony was more pained by his son's insinuations against the Gandhi family than his move to the BJP.
Anil Antony, while talking to the media on Thursday, had said that the Congress was prioritising the interests of two or three individuals, a clear reference to the members of the Gandhi family.
Earlier, in quite a sarcastic tone, Anil had told the Congress to "stop focussing on the gaffes and bloopers of an individual '', which was widely read as an attempt to infantilise Rahul Gandhi.
Antony's emotional pitch sounded like a father's rebuke of his son who had abandoned his roots. If the son sought to paint the Gandhi family as the problem, the father made a case for the centrality of the family in Indian history.
"Since the freedom struggle, the Nehru family has seen Indians as one, and has not discriminated against them in the name of caste or religion, language or region, colour or caste," he said. "Today, even while being mercilessly hunted, this family is fearlessly and uncompromisingly fighting to safeguard the basic values of the Constitution," he said.
Antony almost credited his political life to the family. "It was Indira Gandhi who had encouraged my generation. At one stage, I had drifted apart from Indira Gandhi (a reference to his rebellion against Indira for declaring the Emergency). After I returned to the Congress, accepting the leadership of Indira Gandhi, my love and respect for the family has only grown," he said.
Antony said the Gandhi family and its members were at the forefront of the fight to save India from the designs of the BJP. "My allegiance is always with the family," he said as if apologising for the actions of his son.
Then there was a subtle break in his voice; his disappointment with what had happened seemed to be getting the better of him. "I am entering the last days of my life. I am 82. I don't know how long I will live. I am not interested in long life either. However long I live, I will die as a worker of the Indian National Congress," he said.
Antony was unwilling to talk about Anil's actions except to say, right at the start, that his son's decision had caused him "deep pain". "It was an absolutely wrong decision," he said.
Earlier in the day Anil Antony had told reporters that his father had taught him to work as a good Indian. "I have now realised that the best way to be a good Indian is to work for Narendra Modi," he said.
Antony then hinted why his son had got it absolutely wrong. “Ever since Narendra Modi came to power, there have been concerted and repeated efforts to weaken the fundamental principles of pluralism and secularism that the people of the country had held on to like their own breaths,” he said.
In its first term, Antony said the Modi dispensation moved towards its goals at a leisurely pace. "But after the 2019 win, there are intense efforts to destroy diversity in all aspects of life," he said and added: "Our unity has weakened. Communal harmony is in shatters. This is dangerous."
In a seeming response to his son's remark that working for Modi was the need of the hour, Antony said: "Till my last breath, I will raise my voice against the divisive and dangerous policies of the BJP and the RSS."
Antony ended his response to the media refusing to take any questions, saying this was the last and only time he would respond to his son's actions.
