23rd Defence Minister Of India And Former Chief Minister of Kerala
In this Indian name, the name Arackaparambil Kurien is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Antony.
Arackaparambil Kurien Antony (born 28 December ) is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the Minister of Defence of India from to ,[1] making him the longest serving Defence Minister in India.[a][2] He previously served as the 6th Chief Minister of Kerala from to , to and again from to [3] He currently serves as the Chairman of the Disciplinary Action Committee of the All India Congress Committee,[4][5]Congress Working Committee,[6] and member of the Congress Core Group and Central Election Committee.
He has thrice served as Chief Minister of Kerala and remains as the youngest leader to assume the office at the age of He was the Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly from to He also held the portfolio of Civil Supplies from to Additionally, he also served as Treasurer of All India Congress Committee from to
He served as a Member of the Rajya Sabha from to and again from to He was also elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly on five occasions from the constituencies of Cherthala (, and ), Kazhakootam () and Tirurangadi ().
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 and Antony self-financed part of his education through odd jobs.[10]
Antony completed his primary education at Holy Family Boys High school (Lower primary) and Government Boys High school (Upper primary), Cherthala[b] and completed his Bachelor of Arts from Maharaja's College, Ernakulam and Bachelor of Law from Government Law College, Ernakulam.[11]
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 [13] and also served in the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) before becoming an All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary in When he became KPCC president in , he was the youngest person to hold that post. He was elected again as KPCC president in , and was defeated by Vayalar Ravi in the KPCC presidential elections in [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 – After the fall of the Nayanar ministry, the party merged with the Congress in ,[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]
See also: First A. K. Antony ministry, Second A. K. Antony ministry, and Third A. K. Antony ministry
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 becoming the youngest Chief Minister of the state[13][17] at the age of 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 , 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 Thereafter, Antony served as Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly from to
In , Antony led the United Democratic Front to a historic victory of seats, with the Congress party winning its largest share of seats in the state assembly. On 17 May , 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 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 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.
It was at Antony's behest that the decision to construct the new Legislature Complex was taken in During his tenure, he introduced the Unemployment Allowance, Festival Allowance for the State Employees, Prohibition of Arrack and the steps initiated to revive the economy of Kerala.[19] Several initiatives were taken in the fields of Higher education, science & technology, Biotechnology (including the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology at Thiruvananthapuram), and Information technology, under his ministries.[20]
It was also under his rule that the Kannur University was inaugurated by bifurcating the University of Calicut. The University of Sanskrit was founded in [21] The Indian Institute of Management and the National Institute of Technology at Kozhikode were established in the years and respectively.[22] The Akshaya project was implemented in by providing E-literacy to the people those who haven't it and opening Akshaya 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.[23] Several initiatives were taken in the fields of Higher education, science & technology, Biotechnology, and Information technology, under his ministries.[20] The Infopark at Kochi was established in the year [24] The IT@school project and introduction of Information Technology in school level were initiated in by Third Antony ministry, making Kerala the first Indian state to do so.[25]
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 citing drought and the non-availability of drinking water.[26]
See also: Rao ministry
Antony was a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha between and and was the Minister for Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution for a year in during the tenure of Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao. He resigned on moral grounds as food minister in when his ministry was involved in a sugar import scandal, despite there being no allegations against him.[13][27]
See also: First ministry of Manmohan Singh and Second ministry of Manmohan Singh
Main article: Indian MRCA competition
In , 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 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]
He held the post of Chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata ( to ), President of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses and Chancellor of Defence Institute of Advanced Technology ( to ).[citation needed]
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]
He is considered as political guru of Rahul Gandhi.[31]
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]
Main article: Supreme Court of India crisis
In , Antony is one of the signatories[36][37] to impeachment notice against Chief Justice of IndiaDipak Misra.
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 by The Indian Express.[43]
10thPrime Minister of IndiaAtal Bihari Vajpayee admired Antony[44] for his simplicity, gentleness and his zeal for reforms and change as a way to ensure acceleration of Kerala's all-round development.[44]
After Pranab Mukherjee was nominated for the President of India election, Antony was placed as the second-in-command after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Cabinet of India.[1][45]
Leaked diplomatic cables said Antony was one of the only two leaders, the other being P. R. Dasmunsi, who criticised Sanjay Gandhi during the 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 , his son Anil Antony joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.[51] Antony identifies himself as an atheist.[52]
| Year | Name | Awarding organisation | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malayali of the Year Award. | Asianet. | [53] |
Notes