He returned from US to serve India. Tamil Nadu election result left him broken
Ananthan Ayyasamy, who worked as an engineer at Intel, joined the BJP and was appointed district president of Tenkasi in Tamil Nadu. For the next four years, he immersed himself completely in grassroots work across villages.
When Ananthan Ayyasamy chose to leave behind a thriving life in the US and return to India, it was not a career move driven by ambition or necessity. It was a deeply personal decision rooted in conviction, sacrifice and a sense of duty toward the land he still called home.
A former Engineering Director at Intel in the US, a successful entrepreneur with achievements in technology and real estate, and an innovator with multiple patents to his name, Ayyasamy, a Tamil Nadu native, had everything many aspire to — professional success, financial security and a comfortable life abroad.
Yet he chose to walk away from it all.
But the most difficult moment was not leaving behind wealth, status or the promise of an easier future.
It was sitting across from his 12-year-old daughter and telling her that her father was leaving.
He told her he was returning to India to dedicate himself to public service and politics — to work for ordinary people, create opportunities for young Indians, and help transform Tenkasi district into a centre of growth, innovation and hope.
At 12, she could not fully grasp what that choice meant. She only knew that her father was going far away, chasing something bigger than himself.
Years later, she finally understood the weight of that decision — and the sacrifice it demanded from both of them.
Ayyasamy joined the BJP and was appointed district president of Tenkasi. For the next four years, he immersed himself completely in grassroots work across the district.
He helped build bus shelters, restore a 100-acre pond, strengthen water bunds, remove invasive trees and plant thousands of palm saplings. He organised medical camps, supported students, conducted career workshops, encouraged sports among young people, built community sheds and donated food to shelters.
Ayyasamy's vision, as outlined on HIS website, is ambitious: creating one lakh high-tech jobs in Tenkasi by 2032 and transforming the region into a centre for skills, innovation and sustainable growth.
But those efforts came at a personal cost.
“It cost several ten lakhs of hard-earned money — just for this village alone. But more than money, it cost time, family moments and precious years watching my daughter grow up from far away,” he wrote in a deeply emotional social media post.
Ayyasamy hoped his years of service would help his party politically. But when the election results came, the BJP and its alliance failed to win any Assembly seat in Tenkasi district.
“In the end, one week of election-time money defeated four years of sincere service,” he wrote.
In the high-stakes Tamil Nadu Assembly polls declared on May 4, DMK’s Kalai Kathiravan emerged victorious in Tenkasi, defeating AIADMK candidate S Selva Mohandas Pandian by 10,299 votes.
Then came the moment that broke him.
After the elections, his daughter called him on a video call and quietly asked: “Appa can you now tell me what exactly politics is?”
“For the first time in my life, I did not have an answer for my chellaponnu (affectionate term used for girls in Tamil),” he wrote.
Yet, despite the heartbreak, Ayyasamy’s larger dream remains unchanged.
For now, however, a father’s silence after his daughter’s question says more about politics than any election speech ever could.
When Ananthan Ayyasamy chose to leave behind a thriving life in the US and return to India, it was not a career move driven by ambition or necessity. It was a deeply personal decision rooted in conviction, sacrifice and a sense of duty toward the land he still called home.
A former Engineering Director at Intel in the US, a successful entrepreneur with achievements in technology and real estate, and an innovator with multiple patents to his name, Ayyasamy, a Tamil Nadu native, had everything many aspire to — professional success, financial security and a comfortable life abroad.
Yet he chose to walk away from it all.
But the most difficult moment was not leaving behind wealth, status or the promise of an easier future.
It was sitting across from his 12-year-old daughter and telling her that her father was leaving.
He told her he was returning to India to dedicate himself to public service and politics — to work for ordinary people, create opportunities for young Indians, and help transform Tenkasi district into a centre of growth, innovation and hope.
At 12, she could not fully grasp what that choice meant. She only knew that her father was going far away, chasing something bigger than himself.
Years later, she finally understood the weight of that decision — and the sacrifice it demanded from both of them.
Ayyasamy joined the BJP and was appointed district president of Tenkasi. For the next four years, he immersed himself completely in grassroots work across the district.
He helped build bus shelters, restore a 100-acre pond, strengthen water bunds, remove invasive trees and plant thousands of palm saplings. He organised medical camps, supported students, conducted career workshops, encouraged sports among young people, built community sheds and donated food to shelters.
Ayyasamy's vision, as outlined on HIS website, is ambitious: creating one lakh high-tech jobs in Tenkasi by 2032 and transforming the region into a centre for skills, innovation and sustainable growth.
But those efforts came at a personal cost.
“It cost several ten lakhs of hard-earned money — just for this village alone. But more than money, it cost time, family moments and precious years watching my daughter grow up from far away,” he wrote in a deeply emotional social media post.
Ayyasamy hoped his years of service would help his party politically. But when the election results came, the BJP and its alliance failed to win any Assembly seat in Tenkasi district.
“In the end, one week of election-time money defeated four years of sincere service,” he wrote.
In the high-stakes Tamil Nadu Assembly polls declared on May 4, DMK’s Kalai Kathiravan emerged victorious in Tenkasi, defeating AIADMK candidate S Selva Mohandas Pandian by 10,299 votes.
Then came the moment that broke him.
After the elections, his daughter called him on a video call and quietly asked: “Appa can you now tell me what exactly politics is?”
“For the first time in my life, I did not have an answer for my chellaponnu (affectionate term used for girls in Tamil),” he wrote.
Yet, despite the heartbreak, Ayyasamy’s larger dream remains unchanged.
For now, however, a father’s silence after his daughter’s question says more about politics than any election speech ever could.
