Shashikala Kakodkar

Shashikala Kakodkar (7 January 1935^[1]– 28 October 2016), popularly known as Tai (ताई- Elder sister in Marathi),^[2] was a prominent leader of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP),^[3] a political party based in Goa, India, that espouses the cause of the Bahujan Samaj (a term which is interpreted variously, but often taken to mean the masses, or the non-Brahmin section of Hindu society). She served as the Chief Minister of Goa, Daman and Diu on two occasions and also as the President of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party.^[4][5]

Early life and background

Shashikala Kakodkar was born on 7 January 1935 at Pernem, Goa^[6] in Portuguese India to Dayanand and Sunandabai Bandodkar as their eldest child. Her younger siblings were Usha Vengurlekar, Kranti Rao, Jyoti Bandekar and Siddharth Bandodkar.^[7][8]

Kakodkar completed her elementary education from the Mushtifund School and completed her matriculation from the People's High School in Panaji. Aged 11, she participated in Goa's liberation movement shouting patriotic slogans and was beaten up by the Portuguese police officers for her act. She graduated from the Karnatak University, Dharwad^[9] with a Bachelor of Arts degree, where she studied anthropology, sociology and history. Shashikala completed her postgraduate M.A. degree from Mumbai's Elphinstone College.^[10]

In 1963, the first democratically held elections to Goa, Daman and Diu Legislative Assembly led to her father Dayanand Bandodkar being elected the first Chief Minister. Shashikala married Gurudatt Kakodkar in 1963 and was appointed as the General Manager of the Bandodkar Group of Companies in 1968. She was also a member of the Youth Red Cross Society, All India Women's Conference and the Central Social Welfare Board.^[11]

Political life

Entry into politics

Shashikala Kakodkar was engaged in social work ever since her return from Mumbai after obtaining her postgraduate education.^[12] She contested the Goa, Daman & Diu Legislative Assembly election, 1967 from the Ponda constituency as a candidate of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and won by a huge majority, making her the second woman member of the Goa, Daman & Diu Legislative Assembly.^[13] In the Goa, Daman & Diu Legislative Assembly election, 1972, Kakodkar successfully contested as a Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party candidate from the Bicholim constituency.^[14]

Minister of State

Following her victory in the 1972 Assembly elections, she was appointed as a Minister of State in the government led by her father, Chief Minister Dayanand Bandodkar. She held the portfolios of Education, Public Health, Social Welfare, Public Assistance, Provedoria and Small Savings.^[15] But a massive personal tragedy befell upon Kakodkar on 12 August 1973, when her father and the then Chief Minister Dayanand Bandodkar, died in harness. A question arose regarding the successor of Bandodkar, upon which the legislators of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party unanimously selected Kakodkar as the next Chief Minister.^[16]

First Shashikala Kakodkar ministry

Shashikala Kakodkar was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Goa, Daman and Diu on 13 August, 1973 at 11:20 p.m. by the then Lieutenant governor of Goa, Daman and Diu Sisirkumar Banerjee at the Raj Bhavan. Along with Kakodkar, Pratapsingh Rane and A. K. S. Usgaonkar were sworn in as Cabinet Ministers. The then Chief Minister of Maharashtra Vasantrao Naik was present for the swearing-in ceremony along with his wife Vatsalabai Naik. Kakodkar aslo succedded Bandodkar as the President of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and held the charge of both these psots until the Goa Legislative Assembly election, 1977.^{[17][18][19][20]}

She was the daughter of Goa's first chief minister Dayanand Bandodkar (Bhausaheb), who ascended to power after the December 1963 elections, following a hotly contested election which saw the polarisation of the electorate on caste and religious lines. Following her father's death in 1973, while still in office, Mrs Kakodkar became the chief minister of Goa, and continued in power till being ousted by a split within her party in early 1979.

After the Goa, Daman and Diu Legislative Assembly was dissolved and elections were announced to be held on 1 June 1977, there was a shift in Goa's local political polarisation. A small group of the United Goans Party (dominated by Dr. Jack de Sequeira ) in the Assembly was dissolved and decided to form the Janata Party. Sarto Esteves' book Politics and Political Leadership in Goa (p 170) says there was a "lot of hesitation till the last minute" in the MGP, which was in two minds on whether to join the Janata Party or continue its separate identity. Since its unexpected electoral thrashing in the 1963 first Goa elections, the Congress was for the first time a bit more sure of itself because of a large number of United Goans (UG) politicians who had joined its ranks.

Then Kakodkar fought the elections from the Bicholim constituency, and was opposed by three other candidates, including Jaisingrao Rane, who had been one of her colleagues in the Assembly, but had left the MGP to join the Janata Party.

In that election, the MGP won 15 seats, Congress upped its number to 10, and the Janata Party got three seats, with two going to independents.

Several smaller groups joined in the Janata Party, and with the latter's success at the national (all-India) level, the MGP had to seriously consider whether to continue its separate existence as a regional party. There were a number of rumours about plans for its merger with the Janata Party or one of the other national parties.

But the MGP led by Shashikala Kakodkar stayed separate, and managed to win a majority—even if a slender one, with 15 out of 30 seats—in the Goa assembly.

Praise and criticism

Political commentators like Sarto Esteves, author of the book mentioned above, have lavished praise on Mrs Kakodkar, writing: "This (the electoral victory in 1977) in no small measure was due to the qualities of leadership displayed by Mrs Shashikala Kakodkar, the Chief Minister of (the) MG Government. She had proved, by her actions and deeds, that she was a capable leader. She had not only run the administration of the Union Territory successfully, improved the lot of the people, brought about a substantial development of the (Union) Territory in the spheres of education, agriculture, industries and social and medical services, but had also shown by her abilities and behaviour that Goans could ensure political stability and run the administration of the Territory without constant and continual overseeing by the Centre [New Delhi]."

Other less-generous critics of Kakodkar indict her of running a corruption-prone government, which was particularly dominated by Goa's then-strong transport lobby, and which saw a lot of her fellow Gomantak Maratha Samaj caste members gain predominance in government postings. Towards the end of her tenure, Mrs Kakodkar's government was hit by two major agitations—one led by traditional fishermen protesting against a policy which saw mechanised fishing eating majorly into their interests, and another campaign by students demanding a 50% bus fare concession for all bona fide students. The latter was largely successful.

While both were, at least in part, stoked by a restive Opposition, the fact remains that these protests reflected the problems of significant segments of the population, which were otherwise ignored.

Post-1980 politics

In the 1980 elections, the MGP, or Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party was ousted from power, and the Congress (U), which subsequently transformed itself into the Congress (I), took power in Goa. Following the erosion of her party and its dwindling strength in the Goa assembly, Mrs Kakodkar briefly left the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, to found another party named after her late father, the Bhausaheb Bandodkar Gomantak Party, or BBGP.

In 1990, when the Congress was ousted from power following the defection of some of its prominent leaders—like then Speaker Dr Luis Proto Barbosa, Churchill Alemao, Mauvin Godinho, J.B.Gonsalves, Somnath Zuwarkar, Luis Alex 'Mama' Cardozo, Farrel Furtado—the MGP bounced back to power for a short while, as part of the PDF (Progressive Democratic Front) coalition experiment with breakaway Congressmen.

Education minister, 1990

Shashikala Kakodkar, also known as Tai (Elder sister in Marathi), was the education minister in this government, and was responsible in a major way for the regional languages-alone, no-English education policy implemented in government-aided primary schools in Goa.

Mrs Kakodkar was known for her support for Marathi-language politics, which is one of the major planks of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, along with the campaign for merger with Maharashtra. The latter plan has since been abandoned, following an Opinion Poll held in early 1967 in Goa, where the merger cause was defeated.

Speaking to the media in 2006, Mrs Kakodkar argued against making the English language a compulsory language in primary school. She has been quoted saying by press reports: "(Congress) Education Minister Luzinho Faleiro believes in Portuguese culture and hence is taking such decisions that are unhealthy for our cultural values," At the time, the former Goa chief minister was heading the stir of the Marathi Bachao Andolan (Save Marathi Forum) in the state.

Language campaigns

In 1996, Mrs Kakodkar was active in a campaign favouring the cause of the Marathi language in Goa. Because of historical, religious and geographical reasons, language continues to be an emotive issue in this region, with there being a three-way split among Devanagiri-script Konkani, Roman-script Konkani and Marathi backers.

Chief Ministers of Goa
Dayanand Bandodkar Shashikala Kakodkar Pratapsingh Rane Churchill Alemao Luis Proto Barbosa Ravi S. Naik Wilfred de Souza Luizinho Faleiro Francisco Sardinha Manohar Parrikar Digambar Kamat Laxmikant Parsekar

References