Date:31/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/31/stories/2008123154930900.htm

Tamil Nadu

A namesake panchayat president

Mohamed Imranullah S.

She maintains a low profile as her husband takes centrestage

— Photo: K.Ganesan.

Welcome to male domination: A board kept by Uthangudi panchayat on the highway outside the entrance to the High Court Bench in Madurai.

MADURAI: Packed between the Madurai Corporation limit on the highway leading to Chennai and the Jain caves is Uthangudi panchayat, a village that gained prominence after the establishment of the Madras High Court Bench in July 2004.

Enquiries with the villagers as to who is their panchayat president are met with a uniform answer: P. Ravichandran. When pointed out that the post is reserved for women, a tea stall owner said: “Yes, his wife is the president but she is only namesake.”

He went on to state that Mr. Ravichandran, a former president, settled to be the vice-president after making his wife the head of the local body. “She maintains a low profile as her husband takes centrestage,” he added.

True to his words, a welcome board, on the highway outside the Judges’ entrance to the High Court, belittles her name, R. Dhanalakshmi, painted in, perhaps, the smallest possible font size, followed by her husband’s name in a much larger size.

Cleverly, the board carries her designation as ‘thalaivar,’ a gender neutral Tamil word for president, misleading many tourists to take her husband as the president. A similar board is also erected near the Maattuthavani bus terminus.

What is more shocking is that the backside of the board, thanking the motorists for visiting the panchayat, introduces Mr. Ravichandran himself as the president without any reference to his wife.

“Many uneducated woman presidents remain only on paper with their relatives gaining an upper hand. But the Uthangudi president holds an M. Phil.,” exclaimed K. Govindarajan, a lawyer practising in the High Court Bench.