A.K. Antony perhaps has no similarities in public life. He might not have the physical stature of his political guru C.K. Govindan Nair. He also lacks the scientific acumen of Panambilly Govinda Menon, the oratory skills of V.K. Krishna Menon or R. Shankar's analysis. He also might not be able to stake claim to abilities similar to E.M.S Namboothipad's ideological repertoire or K. Karunakaran's will and administrative capacities. However, he has achieved public acceptance and credibility that none of the above mentioned leaders can claim to be superior to his.
During the second term of the UPA government, the government was swaying under allegations of corruption and certain defence deals came under a cloud. At that time, the leader of the opposition, L.K. Advani, gave a clean chit to the Defence minister and said that nobody believed that Antony can be corrupt. It was a day in which the Parliament agreed that Antony would not tolerate corruption.
The son of Cherthala Arakkaparambil Kurian Pillai and Aliamma, Antony was born on December 28, 1940. While doing his pre-degree at Maharajas College, he was staying at the Cosmopolitan hostel. He used to earn a meagre sum while studying. After completing his graduation from Maharaja's College and his law graduation from the Ernakulam Law College, he started his career and used to go about in a bicycle. Even after growing up in a poor environment, he was never swayed by riches and was always ready to share his meagre earnings for the needy.
When KSU was formed in May 30, 1957, Antony was not a part of it; Vayalar Ravi was in the limelight then. Antony was Treasurer of the KSU and became president on August 4, 1964. The KSU gained prominence during the sixties and M A John and Vayalar Ravi were the prominent leaders of the organisation. During 1967, Antony spearheaded campaigns for the KSU that shot him into the limelight. He became president of the Youth Congress in 1968. When he was 30, he was elected as KPCC General Secretary and became KPCC President in 1973, the youngest president of the party.
In November 12, 1984, he became a member of the AICC working committee. He once again became KPCC President on September 7, 1987. In 1992, he won elections to the working committee of the AICC from Tirupathi and has been at all positions in the AICC except as president.
He was first elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1993. In 1994, he was food distribution minister in the PV Narasimha Rao government. When allegations of corruption arose because of shortage of sugar, a commission that enquired it found that his ministry had failed to let the PM know about an impending sugar shortage. While there were no personal accusations against the minister, Antony resigned taking responsibility for his underperforming office.
Later, when Manmohan Singh was PM, he became defence minister and continued at the post for eight years, the longest tenure by any defence minister.
He became CM of Kerala following the Emergency when K. Karunakaran had to resign following the controversial Rajan murder case. After becoming CM, Antony spent his life in Spartan surroundings to show that he was unaffected by riches and power. Antony became CM a second time in 1995, when K. Karunakaran had to resign following a controversial spy case. Even though the Congress lost the subsequent elections, the party came back with a thumping win in 2001 with 63 seats under the leadership of Antony, a record. However, in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, 17 candidates of the party lost, and Antony resigned taking moral responsibility for the failure.
In 2001, Antony took the bold decision to privatise education, which saw new colleges, better levels of education and new courses coming into the state.
When Antony became CM in 1995, he took many important steps such as making the police apolitical, which did not go well with many Congress leaders. He also decided to make appointment to government, semi-government and PSU appointments via the public service commission. He also decided to conduct elections to local bodies as per the Panchayat Raj norms. He also ensured reservation for women and scheduled categories.
As defence minister, he drew flak for not making the armed forces a strong one. He however reduced arms in the forces to cut the possibility of corruption. INS Vikramaditya, the first aircraft carrier in India and the Arjun tank to the army were his contributions. For Kerala, his contributions as Defence minister were the Brahmos, HAL, BE, Nirdesh and so on.
Antony is married to Elizabeth and they have two children.
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