Purushottam Kakodkar
{{Short description|Politician and social worker (1913–1998)}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Purushottam Kesava Kakodkar
| image = Purushottam Kakodkar.jpg
|birth_date = {{birth date|1913|5|18|df=y}}
|birth_place = Curchorem, Goa, Portuguese India
|death_date = {{death date and age|1998|5|2|1913|05|18|df=y}}
|spouse =
|children = Anil Kakodkar
| office = Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
| term_start = 1971
| term_end = 1977
| predecessor = Janardhan Shinkre
| successor = Amrut Shivram Kansar
| constituency = North Goa
}}
Purushottam Kesava Kakodkar ({{Audio|LL-Q34239 (kok)-Fredericknoronha-Purushottam Kakodkar.wav|pronunciation}}; 18 May 1913 – 2 May 1998) was a prominent politician and social worker{{cite web|url=http://rajyasabha.nic.in/publ/pandp/book2.htm |title=NOMINATED MEMBERS OF THERAJYASABHA |accessdate=2009-05-19 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090501143356/http://rajyasabha.nic.in/publ/pandp/book2.htm |archivedate=1 May 2009 }} from Goa. He served as a Member of Parliament in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
Freedom fighter
He took part in the Quit India Movement and was imprisoned for it. He also took part in the Goa Liberation Movement and the Civil Disobedience Movement launched by Ram Manohar Lohia in Goa in 1946. The Portuguese colonial administration deported him and kept him in detention.
After being released from detention in Portugal in 1956 {{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}, Kakodkar came back to India. After spending some time with his family in Mumbai, he came to Goa and set up an ashram in Margao. The ashram was used to disguise the freedom movement and many freedom fighters took refuge in the ashram. The police soon discovered the true purpose of the ashram and closed it.{{cite web|url=http://goanobserver.com/archive/16-6-2004/perspective.htm|title=FASCISM ON THE RISE IN GOA|last=Bhatikar|first=Aravind|access-date=2009-05-19}} He was among the vocal critics of the Salazar administration in Goa. In 1961, he pursued autonomy for Portuguese India but without success.{{cite web|url=http://goabooks2.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_archive.html|title=BLOOD, NEMESIS AND MISREADING QUITE WHAT MAKES GOAN SOCIETY TICK(Book Review)|last=Leitao |first=Lino|access-date=2009-05-20}}
In June 1957, he was part of a delegation of 11 Goans chosen for consultation by then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. Others included Armando Menezes and his brother Nicolau Menezes, along with Luis Gracias, J. N. Heredia, Pundalik Gaitonde, Rama Hegde, Peter Alvares, Evágrio Jorge, Vishwanath Lawande and Gerald Pereira.{{Cite news |work=Times of India |location=Delhi |title=Goan Nationals Allowed To Send Money Home |date=1957-06-11 |url=https://archive.org/details/goan-nationals-allowed-to-send-money-home |access-date=2024-09-11}}{{Cite book |last=Faleiro |first=Valmiki |author-link=Valmiki Faleiro |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GYLyEAAAQBAJ |title=Goa, 1961: The Complete Story of Nationalism and Integration |date=2023-07-24 |publisher=Penguin Random House India Private Limited |isbn=978-93-5708-175-7 |pages=81, 343, 369 |access-date=21 August 2024}}
After Goa's liberation Kakodkar was the head of the Goa unit of the Congress, which was set up in Panjim from the residence of his close confidant and advisor Advocate Rui Gomes Pereira. Gomes Pereira was considered{{By whom|date=March 2017}} to be Goa's foremost legal counsel and an astute politician.
(Information By N.Pattihal)
Contribution to the Goa Opinion Poll
When the issue of Goa's merger with Maharashtra came up, Kakodkar was the chairperson of the Goa Pradesh Congress committee. He used his personal equations with the Nehru family to lobby hard for a referendum with the central leadership. According to one source, he reportedly "almost lost his sanity" trying to do so against the mighty Maharastra.{{cite web|url=http://www.colaco.net/1/ValmikiMonumentalShame.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070303095040/http://www.colaco.net/1/ValmikiMonumentalShame.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2007-03-03|title=What a Monumental Shame !|last=Faleiro|first=Valmiki|accessdate=2009-05-20}}
Political career
He served as Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha (lower house), representing Panaji constituency in the former union territory of Goa, Daman and Diu from 1971 to 1977. He was a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha from 1985 to 1991. During this term he was also a member of Committee on Petitions, Rajya Sabha during 1986-87.{{cite web|url=http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/lsdeb/ls12/ses2/01290598.htm|title=XII LOK SABHA DEBATES, Session II, (Budget) Friday, May 29, 1998 / Jyaistha 8, 1920 (Saka)|date=29 May 1998 |publisher=parliamentofindia.nic.in|accessdate=2009-05-19}}
Criticism
In his book Panthast, Goan writer Ravindra Kelekar blamed the failure of the non-violent Goa Freedom Movement, spearheaded by Lohia on the squabbles and ego-clashes between Kakodkar and Rama Hegde.{{cite web|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/ie/daily/20000807/ifr07006.html|title='Panthast' explains why it took so long for Goa's liberation|last=NAYAK|first=RAJU|date=7 August 2000|work=Indian Express|accessdate=2009-05-19|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090225184638/http://www.indianexpress.com/ie/daily/20000807/ifr07006.html}}
Kelekar also stated that Kakodkar was once responsible for Mahatma Gandhi having to apologise to the Portuguese. While he was logged in Aguada jail, Kakodkar had begun a fast against the harassment meted out by the Portuguese authority to the freedom fighters. Gandhiji had made a note of this in his paper Harijan. The Portuguese replied that Kakodkar was not fasting. Gandhiji is supposed to have sent a man, who was a relative of Kakodkar, to verify this. His relative verified that although Kakodkar was not taking any food from the jail, he was getting food from outside. A shocked Gandhi tendered an apology to the Portuguese through the Harijan.
Other activities
Kakodkar was the president of the Goa Konkani Akademi from 1984-1996.{{cite web|url=http://www.goakonkaniakademi.org/committees/officebearers.htm|title=OFFICERS OF GOA KONKANI AKADEMI|publisher=GOA KONKANI AKADEMI|accessdate=2009-05-19|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090223190600/http://goakonkaniakademi.org/committees/officebearers.htm|archivedate=23 February 2009}}
Death
Family
His son Anil Kakodkar is former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India.
References
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Category:Goa liberation activists
Category:Nominated members of the Rajya Sabha