Shashikala Kakodkar, Goa’s first woman chief minister, Goa’s second chief minister and daughter of Goa’s first chief minister, Bhausaheb Bandodkar, passed away on Friday after a brief illness, prompting the State to declare two days of state mourning.
PANAJI
Kakodkar, who leaves behind a lasting legacy in the State, was much loved among the State’s downtrodden Bahujan Samaj community. She was unwell over the past two months.
The Goa Governor in a letter to her son Yatin Kakodkar, expressed her grief over the news of the passing away of his mother.
"With her passing away, Goa has lost an eminent political leader. I am sure the people of Goa will remember Shashikala Kakodkar for her contribution to the socio, economic, political and cultural fields,” Governor Mridula Sinha said.
Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar in his condolence message wished strength to her family.
“She was a guiding force for us and has become an ideal for us to follow. I pray that God may grant her eternal peace and strength to her family in this moment of grief,” Parsekar said.
State morning will be over October 28 and 29. Her mortal remains will be kept open for homage at her residence in Altinho beginning 11.30 am on Saturday while her last rites will be held at 5pm at Santa Inez crematorium in the presence of her three sons Yatin, Samir and Abhay, daughters in law, grandchildren and other close family members.
Kakodkar has the distinction of being the first woman MLA, first woman minister and first woman chief minister over her political career spanning five decades.
In 1967, she contested for the first time from Ponda constituency, winning the election and making her the first woman MLA in the state. In the following elections in 1972, she contested and won from Bicholim constituency following which she was made the state’s first woman minister and was handed the education portfolio.
A year later, when on August 12, 1973 her father Dayanand Bandodkar passed away, she took over the reins of chief ministership, thus making her Goa’s first woman chief minister.
She was chief minister from August 12, 1973 to June 7, 1977 and after the subsequent elections when she led MGP back to power from June 7 to April 27, 1979. She completed five years and eight months as Chief Minister over two terms.
In 1979, Dayanand Narvekar and Dilkhush Desai, members of her party, rebelled against her, and on April 27, 1979 during the Budget session, the government lost a vote on a money bill resulting in President’s Rule in the State.
Then began a low period in her political career when in 1980 she lost after contesting from Bicholim. She subsequently hatched a plan to merge the MGP with the Congress, but the plan fell through and only she ended up joining the Congress. In 1983, she once again joined MGP, and in 1984 she formed her own political outfit, the Bhausaheb Bandodkar Gomantak Party, without much success.
In 1989, she contested again, this time from Mayem constituency and won the election. In 1990, she joined the Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) government and was made education minister.
It was during this tenure that the Government introduced the Medium of Instruction policy which continued for nearly two decades until the Digambar Kamat government agreed to give grants to English medium primary schools based on the parent’s choice.
This policy of her government is being heatedly debated to this day.
In 1994, she once again won from the Mayem constituency, but subsequently in 1999 she lost the election to BJP’s Prakash Phadte.
After yet another loss from Mayem in 2002, Kakodkar quit electoral politics but continued to remain active in political and cultural circles.
Kakodkar took over the reins as convenor of the Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch, a movement formed to oppose Digambar Kamat’s decision to give grants to Diocesan English medium schools in 2011, in what was to be her final political endeavour.
She remained convener of the BBSM till she breathed her last.
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Political fraternity mourns demise (Pg 2)
