A. K. Antony | |
|---|---|
 A. K. Antony in 2009 | |
| 23rdUnion Minister of Defence | |
| In office 26 October 2006 – 26 May 2014 | |
| Prime Minister | Manmohan Singh |
| Preceded by | Pranab Mukherjee |
| Succeeded by | Arun Jaitley |
| Chief Minister of Kerala | |
| In office 17 May 2001 – 29 August 2004 | |
| Preceded by | E. K. Nayanar |
| Succeeded by | Oommen Chandy |
| In office 22 March 1995 – 9 May 1996 | |
| Preceded by | K. Karunakaran |
| Succeeded by | E. K. Nayanar |
| In office 27 April 1977 – 27 October 1978 | |
| Preceded by | K. Karunakaran |
| Succeeded by | P. K. Vasudevan Nair |
| Leader of Opposition inKerala Legislative Assembly | |
| In office 20 May 1996 – 13 May 2001 | |
| Preceded by | V. S. Achuthanandan |
| Succeeded by | V. S. Achuthanandan |
| Union Minister Of Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution | |
| In office 18 January 1993 – 8 February 1995 | |
| Prime Minister | P. V. Narasimha Rao |
| Preceded by | P. V. Narasimha Rao |
| Succeeded by | Buta Singh |
| Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha | |
| In office 30 May 2005 – 2 April 2022 | |
| Constituency | Kerala |
| In office 3 April 1985 – 22 March 1995 | |
| Constituency | Kerala |
| Member of the Kerala Legislative Assembly | |
| In office 1996–2005 | |
| Constituency | Cherthala |
| In office 1995 (1995) – 1996 (1996) | |
| Constituency | Tirurangadi |
| In office 1977 (1977) – 1979 (1979) | |
| Constituency | Kazhakootam |
| In office 1970 (1970) – 1977 (1977) | |
| Constituency | Cherthala |
| President of theKerala Pradesh Congress Committee | |
| In office 1987–1992 | |
| Preceded by | C. V. Padmarajan |
| Succeeded by | Vayalar Ravi |
| In office 1972–1977 | |
| Preceded by | K.K. Viswanathan |
| Succeeded by | S. Varadarajan Nair |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Arackaparambil Kurien Antony (1940-12-28)28 December 1940 (age 84) |
| Political party | Indian National Congress(Before 1978; 1982–present) Indian National Congress-Urs(1978–1980) Indian National Congress-A(1980–1982) |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Antony |
| Children | Anil K Antony Ajith Antony |
| Alma mater | Maharaja's College, Ernakulam Government Law College, Ernakulam |
Arackaparambil Kurien Antony (born 28 December 1940) is an Indian lawyer, attorney and statesman who was the longest servingDefence Minister of India[a][1] from 2006 to 2014.[2] He currently serves as the Chairman of the Disciplinary Action Committee of theAll India Congress Committee,[3][4]Congress Working Committee,[5] and member of theCongress Core Group andCentral Election Committee.
He previously served as the 6thChief Minister of Kerala from 1977 to 1978, 1995 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2004 and remains as the youngest leader to assume the office at the age of 36. He was theLeader of the Opposition in theKerala Legislative Assembly from 1996 to 2001. He also held the portfolio of Civil Supplies from 1993 to 1995. Additionally, he also served as Treasurer ofAll India Congress Committee from 1994 to 1995.
He served as five terms as a Member of the Rajya Sabha. He was also elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly on five occasions from the constituencies ofCherthala (1970, 1996 and 2001),Kazhakootam (1977) andTirurangadi (1995).
A. K. Antony was born[6] atCherthala, nearAlleppey inTravancore[7] as the son of Arackaparambil Kurien Pillai and Aleykutty Kurian.[8] His father died in 1959 and Antony self-financed part of his education through odd jobs.[9]
Antony completed his primary education at Holy Family Boys High school (Lower primary) and Government Boys High school (Upper primary), Cherthala[b] and completed hisBachelor of Arts fromMaharaja's College, Ernakulam andBachelor of Law fromGovernment Law College, Ernakulam.[10]
Antony entered politics as a student leader in Cherthala Taluk (Alappuzha District) as an activist of theKerala Students Union under the guidance of M. A. John.[11] He has been an active leader of many strikes likeOru Ana Samaram (Single Penny Strike). He became the youngest president[12] ofKerala Students Union in 1966[12] and also served in theKerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) before becoming anAll 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 byVayalar Ravi in the KPCC presidential elections in 1991.[citation needed]
| Election | Constituency | Result | Majority |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Cherthala | Won | 360 |
| 1977[c] | Kazhakootam | Won | 8669 |
| 1995[d] | Tirurangadi | Won | 22269 |
| 1996 | Cherthala | Won | 8385 |
| 2001 | Cherthala | Won | 6860 |
Antony founded theCongress (A) political party when he split from theIndian National Congress (Urs), a splinter group of theIndian National Congress The party was primarily active in Kerala and joined the LDF ministry headed byE. K. Nayanar during 1980–1982. After the fall of the Nayanar ministry, the party merged with the Congress in 1982,[13] but Antony was not given any office until the death ofIndira Gandhi. The members of the party have continued as a faction in the local congress afterwards.[14]
Following accusations in theRajan case,K. Karunakaran resigned and Antony, the state Congress president was appointed as the sixthChief Minister ofKerala,[15] on 27 April 1977 becoming the youngestChief Minister of the state[12][16] at the age of 36. Antony subsequently contested a by-election from Kazhakuttam constituency in Thiruvananthapuram 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.[17]
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 controversialISRO 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 theKerala 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.[12][16] He was succeeded by his close confidante,Oommen Chandy.
It was at Antony's behest that the decision to construct thenew Legislature Complex was taken in 1977. During his tenure, he introduced the Unemployment Allowance, Festival Allowance for the State Employees, Prohibition ofArrack and the steps initiated to revive the economy of Kerala.[18] Several initiatives were taken in the fields ofHigher education, science & technology,Biotechnology (including theRajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology atThiruvananthapuram), andInformation technology, under his ministries.[19]
It was also under his rule that theKannur University was inaugurated by bifurcating theUniversity of Calicut. TheUniversity of Sanskrit was founded in 1994.[20] TheIndian Institute of Management and theNational Institute of Technology atKozhikode were established in the years 1996 and 2002 respectively.[21] TheAkshaya project was implemented in 2002 by providingE-literacy to the people those who haven't it and openingAkshaya centres in the remote rural areas of the state, thus ensuring Internet availability all over the state, aiming to make Kerala the first complete E-literate state of India.[22] Several initiatives were taken in the fields ofHigher education, science & technology,Biotechnology, andInformation technology, under his ministries.[19] TheInfopark atKochi was established in the year 2004.[23] TheIT@school project and introduction ofInformation Technology in school level were initiated in 2001 byThird Antony ministry, making Kerala the first Indian state to do so.[24]
Antony carried outAsian 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 theclosure of the Kerala Coca-Cola plant in 2004 citing drought and the non-availability of drinking water.[25]
Antony was a Member of Parliament in theRajya 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 MinisterP. 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.[12][26]
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In 2005, Antony entered the Rajya Sabha and was inducted into the Union Council of Ministers asDefence Minister followingNatwar Singh's expulsion from the Congress andPranab Mukherjee's transfer to the Ministry of External Affairs. After the Congress again won the elections in 2009 and formed the government once again underPrime 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.[27][1] 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.[28]
During his term, many domestic and international firms and companies were blacklisted for bribery and corruption -IMI Systems,ST Engineering Land Systems,Rheinmetall Air Defence and others.[29][30][31] In 2010, Antony ordered aCentral Bureau of Investigation probe into theAdarsh Housing Society scandal.[32][33]
He oversaw the acquisition and final commissioning ofINS Vikramaditya fromRussia toIndian Navy.[34]
He held the post of Chairman of theIndian Statistical Institute inKolkata (2012 to 2014), President of theInstitute for Defence Studies and Analyses andChancellor ofDefence Institute of Advanced Technology (2006 to 2014).[citation needed]
In theManmohan Singh Cabinet, Antony was the senior member of the Cabinet Committees on Accommodation, Economic Affairs, Parliamentary Affairs, Political Affairs, and Security.[35]
He is considered as political guru ofRahul Gandhi.[36]
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.[37][38]
| GoM | EGoM |
|---|---|
| Location of National War Memorial | Spectrum Allocation |
| Reports ofAdministrative Reforms Commission | Gas Pricing and Commercial Utilisation |
| Corruption | Ultra Mega Power Projects |
| Recommendations with regard toCommonwealth Games | Mass Rapid Transit System |
Antony highly critical speech at the AICC session in Guwahati, 1976 during the Emergency that played a pivotal role in Indira Gandhi’s change of mind—eventually leading her to lift the Emergency and call for elections.[39]
Leaked diplomatic cables said Antony was one of the only two leaders, the other beingP. R. Dasmunsi, who criticisedSanjay Gandhi during the 1976 AICC session in Guwahati duringEmergency when the latter's political standing was on the rise, asking "what sacrifices he has made for the party or the country".[40]
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.[41][42]
In 2018, Antony is one of the signatories[43][44] to impeachment notice againstChief Justice of IndiaDipak Misra.
Antony is known for his incorruptible record and simple personal life[45][46] and his intolerance towards corruption in public life.[47][48][49] He was ranked among the top 10 Most Powerful Indians for the year 2012 byThe Indian Express.[50]
10thPrime Minister of IndiaAtal Bihari Vajpayee admired Antony[51] for his simplicity, gentleness and his zeal for reforms and change as a way to ensure acceleration of Kerala's all-round development.[51]
After Pranab Mukherjee was nominated for the 2012President of India election, Antony was placed as the second-in-command after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in theCabinet of India.[2][52]
| Position | Party | Constituency | From | To | Tenure | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha (1st Term) | INC | Kerala | 22 April 1985 | 21 April 1991 | 5 years, 364 days | |
| Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha (2nd Term) | 22 April 1991 | 21 April 1997 | 4 years, 51 days (Resigned on 12 June 1995) | |||
| Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha (3rd Term) | 30 May 2005 | 2 April 2010 | 4 years, 307 days | |||
| Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha (4th Term) | 3 April 2010 | 2 April 2016 | 5 years, 365 days | |||
| Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha (5th Term) | 3 April 2016 | 2 April 2022 | 5 years, 364 days (Retirement) | |||
Antony is married to Elizabeth who is aKerala High Court lawyer[53] and is the founder of the Navoothan Charitable Foundation.[54] They have two sons.[55][56] In April 2023, his son Anil Antony joined theBharatiya Janata Party.[57] Antony identifies himself as an atheist.[58]
| Year | Name | Awarding organisation | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Malayali of the Year 2007 Award. | Asianet. | [59] |
Notes
| Rajya Sabha | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by N/A | Member of Parliament forRajya Sabha (Kerala) 1985 to 1991 | Succeeded by N/A |
| Preceded by N/A | Member of Parliament forRajya Sabha (Kerala) 1991 to 1995 | Succeeded by N/A |
| Preceded by N/A | Member of Parliament forRajya Sabha (Kerala) 2005 to 2010 | Succeeded by N/A |
| Preceded by N/A | Member of Parliament forRajya Sabha (Kerala) 2010 to 2016 | Succeeded by N/A |
| Preceded by N/A | Member of Parliament forRajya Sabha (Kerala) April 2016 to Incumbent | Succeeded by N/A |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chief Minister of Kerala 1977–1978 | Succeeded by |
| Chief Minister of Kerala 1995–1996 | Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by | Chief Minister of Kerala 2001–2004 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution 1993-1995 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Defence 2006–2014 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Treasurer ofAll India Congress Committee 1994–1995 | Succeeded by |
| Educational offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chairman of Indian Statistical Institute 2012 to 2014 | Succeeded by |
|  | |
