 Online edition of India's National Newspaper Wednesday, May 06, 2009 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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CYNTHIA PANDIAN PARTY: AIADMK CONSTITUENCY: Thoothukudi STATE: Tamil Nadu MISSION STATEMENT: Development of basic infrastructure is on top of her agenda For someone who didn’t really see it coming, Cynthia Pandian is adapting herself to her new role as AIADMK candidate for the Thoothukudi Constituency with a seeming effortlessness. Though she has been close to politics — being the wife of P.H. Pandian, former Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Assembly and former MP — this former Vice Chancellor of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University clearly did not think she had a career as a politician ahead of her. The story goes that AIADMK party leader Jayalalithaa had summoned the couple with the news that the wife, instead of the husband, would represent the party from Tuticorin. She reportedly wanted a woman, and a well-educated one at that, to speak in Parliament on behalf of the State. “It was a shock to me,” Dr. Pandian says. “Though I have close links with politics thanks to my family, I must admit that I have never dreamt of becoming a politician myself. I was comfortable with my academic life.” But then, thanks to Ms. Jayalalithaa’s faith in her and persuasion by her family, particularly her husband, she finally capitulated. Since then, she has been busy, traversing the dusty roads of Tuticorin, stopping by in the villages to meet and seek the votes of people who she says are already familiar with her and her family. A slight change, she admits, from her globe-trotting academic past. Dr. Pandian won the Fulbright Fellowship (2003-2004) to study in the U.S.; has conducted a semester abroad programme at Concordia University, Nebraska, and been a recipient of the Indo-Canadian Women and Development Fellowship (2001). Dr. Pandian has held various positions of authority in the UGC, National Assessment and Accreditation Council, Union Public Service Commission, and universities in the State As she meets the people, she feels that familiarity helps her make headway. “I feel a lot of warmth from them, especially the women. They talk to me clearly about how even the basic issues — drinking water, roads — are still not addressed properly. I promise them that development of basic infrastructure will be first on my agenda once I take charge,” she says. It helps too that she was Vice Chancellor of the Manonmaniam Sundaranar University from March 2005 to March 2008, which is situated in the region. She and her husband have donated five acres of land in their native village in Cheran Mahadevi to build a college affiliated to the varsity. It is her experience as an administrator and educator that she hopes will guide her to victory and thereafter, good governance in the constituency. “After all, I understand politics and how to implement policies at the ground level. Factor in my family background and my leader’s support, anyone can see it is a winning combination.”
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