This village gets another leader, this time in Oz

Kottayam: Moonnilavu, a small village on the hillside in Meenachil taluk in the district, will add another feather to its cap. Jinson Anto Charls, originally from the village, was chosen to be the minister of a region in Australia on Monday and will take oath on Tuesday. Charls is the nephew of Anto Antony, MP, who is representing Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency.Charls, 37, will become the new minister for disability, arts, veterans and multicultural affairs of the Northern Territory of Australia. He will also manage the portfolios of youth, seniors and equality, as well as people, sport and culture. He had won the elections representing the Country Liberal Party (CLP) in Aug. He gained the key Northern Darwin seat for CLP, defeating environment minister Kate Worden after two terms. Charls's parents, Charles Antony and Daisy Antony, are with their son in Darwin to witness the oath-taking ceremony on Tuesday. Charles Antony is the brother of Anto Antony. On Monday, Anto Antony joined the family at Punnathaniyil house in Moonnilavu to celebrate Charls's achievement."Though the family has a Congress tradition, Jinson was never active in politics during his education period," said Jeo Tom Charles, the younger brother of Charls, who is an orthodontist in Pala. Charls's younger sister, Anit Catherine Charles, is a doctor at a private hospital in Pala."It was his meeting with the new chief minister Lia Finocchiaro a few months ago when she was the opposition leader that changed his destiny. She invited him to join politics," said Jeo. "Discussions started over Jinson's candidature only After being shortlisted, he had to go through an interview after which he was made a candidate," said Jeo.Charls, after his BSc in nursing from Little Flower Hospital, Angamaly, had moved to Australia in 2012. He shifted to the territory in 2015 where he worked as a registered nurse and in health leadership roles. He was active in the Darwin Malayali Association and was its president during 2023-24. He now lives with his wife Anupriya John, also a nurse, and two daughters, Aimie, 11, and Anna, 5, in Darwin. He last visited Moonnilavu for Christmas in 2022.