1945-2020
Speaker with ‘sky-high powers’ passes away
Politicos Pay Homage To P H Pandian
Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com
Chennai:5.1.2020
Former speaker of Tamil Nadu assembly and senior AIADMK leader P H Pandian died here on Saturday after a prolonged illness. He was 74.
An acolyte of former chief minister M G Ramachandran, Pandian is known for exercising “sky-high powers” during his tenure as speaker. He represented erstwhile Cheranmahadevi assembly segment for four consecutive terms, beginning 1977. He was deputy speaker from 1980 to 1984. “His death is a big loss to the party,” said chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, showering encomiums on the leader’s contributions in his five decades of public service. Pandian was a legal advisor of the AIADMK led by O Panneerselvam and Palaniswami after the merger of the erstwhile factions.
Pandian made headlines as speaker of the assembly between 1985 and 1989 when 10 DMK MLAs, including party general secretary K Anbazhagan were disqualified for burning copies of the Constitution during an agitation by the party against the imposition of Hindi as official language by the Union government. During this term as speaker, Balasubramanian, editor of Tamil weekly Ananda Vikadan, was sent to jail for alleged breach of privilege and contempt of the House. “Pandian excelled extremely well as speaker. He refused to accept the orders of even the Supreme Court. For him, speaker and assembly are independent constitutional authorities, which was applauded in the all India speakers’ conference,” former law minister C Ponnaiyan said.
A founding member of MGR’s AIADMK, Pandian stood by MGR’s wife Janaki Ramachandran when the party suffered its first split after the founder’s death. The disqualification saga continued when Janaki sought vote of confidence on January 28, 1988. “The
House witnessed pandemonium when Pandian began declaring disqualification of 33 AIADMK MLAs (of the Jayalalithaa faction) one after another… He was an authority of his own and stood loyal to the party till his death,” said former Kangeyam MLA K C Palanisamy, who was a first-time MLA then. Interestingly, Pandian was one of the two MLAs who emerged victorious in the Janaki faction in the subsequent elections.
During the fag end of Jayalalitha’s first term from 1991 to 1996, Pandian joined hands with Subramanian Swamy to launch Nallaatchi Iyakkam (Good Governance Movement). AIADMK stalwarts like Rajaram and Thirunavukkarasu stood with him.
Ending his strained relationship with Jayalalithaa, Pandian represented the leader when she was arrested by the DMK government in 1996 and moved bail at the time of remand at justice A Ramamurthy’s residence. He went on to become Tirunelveli MP in 1999 and also became the parliamentary party leader of the party. AIADMK leaders recalled that the first voice of dissent came from Pandian against elevation of Jayalalithaa’s close-aide V K Sasikalaa as general secretary of the party after Jayalalithaa’s demise. In a fully-packed hall at his Anna Nagar residence in February 2017, Pandian dropped a bombshell by raising suspicion over the death of Jayalalithaa. “There is no need for post-mortem, even circumstantial evidence is enough,” he said, demanding a probe into the events that took place ahead of Jayalalithaa’s hospitalisation. He was one of the MGR loyalists who stood by O Panneerselvam when he launched a ‘dharmayudham’ against the Sasikalaa family.
BIDDING ADIEU: DMK president M K Stalin pays tribute to P H Pandian in Chennai on Saturday
Speaker with ‘sky-high powers’ passes away
Politicos Pay Homage To P H Pandian
Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com
Chennai:5.1.2020
Former speaker of Tamil Nadu assembly and senior AIADMK leader P H Pandian died here on Saturday after a prolonged illness. He was 74.
An acolyte of former chief minister M G Ramachandran, Pandian is known for exercising “sky-high powers” during his tenure as speaker. He represented erstwhile Cheranmahadevi assembly segment for four consecutive terms, beginning 1977. He was deputy speaker from 1980 to 1984. “His death is a big loss to the party,” said chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, showering encomiums on the leader’s contributions in his five decades of public service. Pandian was a legal advisor of the AIADMK led by O Panneerselvam and Palaniswami after the merger of the erstwhile factions.
Pandian made headlines as speaker of the assembly between 1985 and 1989 when 10 DMK MLAs, including party general secretary K Anbazhagan were disqualified for burning copies of the Constitution during an agitation by the party against the imposition of Hindi as official language by the Union government. During this term as speaker, Balasubramanian, editor of Tamil weekly Ananda Vikadan, was sent to jail for alleged breach of privilege and contempt of the House. “Pandian excelled extremely well as speaker. He refused to accept the orders of even the Supreme Court. For him, speaker and assembly are independent constitutional authorities, which was applauded in the all India speakers’ conference,” former law minister C Ponnaiyan said.
A founding member of MGR’s AIADMK, Pandian stood by MGR’s wife Janaki Ramachandran when the party suffered its first split after the founder’s death. The disqualification saga continued when Janaki sought vote of confidence on January 28, 1988. “The
House witnessed pandemonium when Pandian began declaring disqualification of 33 AIADMK MLAs (of the Jayalalithaa faction) one after another… He was an authority of his own and stood loyal to the party till his death,” said former Kangeyam MLA K C Palanisamy, who was a first-time MLA then. Interestingly, Pandian was one of the two MLAs who emerged victorious in the Janaki faction in the subsequent elections.
During the fag end of Jayalalitha’s first term from 1991 to 1996, Pandian joined hands with Subramanian Swamy to launch Nallaatchi Iyakkam (Good Governance Movement). AIADMK stalwarts like Rajaram and Thirunavukkarasu stood with him.
Ending his strained relationship with Jayalalithaa, Pandian represented the leader when she was arrested by the DMK government in 1996 and moved bail at the time of remand at justice A Ramamurthy’s residence. He went on to become Tirunelveli MP in 1999 and also became the parliamentary party leader of the party. AIADMK leaders recalled that the first voice of dissent came from Pandian against elevation of Jayalalithaa’s close-aide V K Sasikalaa as general secretary of the party after Jayalalithaa’s demise. In a fully-packed hall at his Anna Nagar residence in February 2017, Pandian dropped a bombshell by raising suspicion over the death of Jayalalithaa. “There is no need for post-mortem, even circumstantial evidence is enough,” he said, demanding a probe into the events that took place ahead of Jayalalithaa’s hospitalisation. He was one of the MGR loyalists who stood by O Panneerselvam when he launched a ‘dharmayudham’ against the Sasikalaa family.
BIDDING ADIEU: DMK president M K Stalin pays tribute to P H Pandian in Chennai on Saturday
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