PANAJI
The snakebite at Anmod in the early hours of Friday ended not only the life of Dr Ketan Bhatikar at 42, but also a political career brimming with promise, preventing him from even reaching the first milestone of becoming an MLA.
Yet, Dr Bhatikar's short journey has left a mark.
Bhatikar was widely respected in sporting circles as a physiotherapist and admired as a selfless social worker, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
His entry into electoral politics came in 2017 when he contested Panaji on a Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM) ticket. This debut was modest, yielding only a few hundred votes, but five years later, he nearly toppled veteran Ravi Naik in Ponda.
At the 2022 assembly election, Naik scraped through by just 77 votes. Bhatikar, contesting on a Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) ticket, polled 7,437 votes to Naik’s 7,514.
This narrow defeat did not deter Bhatikar, though, and he continued to strive on the political turf. When Naik died in October last year, Bhatikar rebelled against MGP’s decision not to contest the by‑election.
He joined the Congress, which nominated him for the April 9 Ponda by‑poll but fate intervened — the election was cancelled at the eleventh hour on technicalities by the Bombay High Court.
Bhatikar challenged the ruling before the Supreme Court. The matter was to be heard on Friday. But fate intervened again, and his destiny struck cruelly -- a venomous snakebite ending his life and his political journey in one blow.
Goa has lost a healer, a social worker, and a politician who carried the promise of change and youth. His story will be remembered as one of potential unfulfilled, a political career nipped before it could bloom.
