Shashikala Kakodkar

Shashikala Kakodkar (7 January 1935 – 28 October 2016), popularly known as Tai; ), was a prominent leader of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP). She served as the Chief Minister of Goa, Daman and Diu on two occasions, and also was the President of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party. She is the first and woman to serve as the Chief Minister of Goa, Daman and Diu.

Shashikala Kakodkar was born on 7 January 1935 at Pernem, Goa, Portuguese India, to Dayanand and Sunandabai Bandodkar as their eldest child.

Her younger siblings were Usha Vengurlekar, Kranti Rao, Jyoti Bandekar and Siddharth Bandodkar.

Kakodkar completed her elementary education from the Mushtifund School and completed her matriculation from the People's High School in Panaji.

At age eleven, she participated in Goa's liberation movement by shouting patriotic slogans, and was beaten by Portuguese police officers for doing so.

She graduated from Karnatak University, Dharwad, with a Bachelor of Arts degree, where she studied anthropology, sociology and history.

She completed her postgraduate M.A. degree from Mumbai's Elphinstone College.

In 1963, the first democratically held elections to the Legislative Assembly of Goa, Daman and Diu led to her father Dayanand Bandodkar's election as the first chief minister.

She contested the 1967 Goa, Daman & Diu Legislative Assembly election 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.

That year, she married Gurudatt Kakodkar, 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.

She built her power base around the Government Primary Teachers' Association.

Shashikala Kakodkar was engaged in social work ever since her return from Mumbai after obtaining her postgraduate education.

In the 1972 Goa, Daman & Diu Legislative Assembly election, Kakodkar successfully contested as a Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party candidate from the Bicholim constituency.

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.

On 12 August 1973, her father died in office, and the legislators of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party unanimously selected her as the next Chief Minister.

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.

Her own post of Minister of State was kept vacant till the end of the term.

Some of the other important legislation enacted by the first Shashikala Kakodkar Ministry include the Goa, Daman & Diu Irrigation Act, 1973; Goa, Daman & Diu Chit Funds Act, 1973; Goa, Daman & Diu Barge tax Act, 1973; Goa, Daman & Diu Highways Act, 1974; Goa, Daman & Diu Town and Country Planning Act, 1974; Goa, Daman & Diu Motor Vehicles Act, 1974; Goa, Daman & Diu Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board Act, 1975; Goa, Daman & Diu Public Gambling, Act 1976 and the Goa, Daman & Diu Habitual Offenders Act, 1976.

Kakodkar also scripted history when the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party candidate Luta Ferrao defeated Dr. Wilfred de Souza in the historic by-election in the Benaulim constituency in 1974.

In a marked departure from the earlier stand taken by her party, Kakodkar declared that the question of Goa's merger with Maharashtra was a dead issue, and that both Marathi and Konkani were the official languages of Goa.

Kakodkar established the Economic Development Corporation of Goa, Daman & Diu (now the Economic Development Corporation – EDC, Goa) in March 1975.

She also established the Goa Board of Secondary & Higher Secondary Education in 1975.

Shashikala Kakodkar's government also took steps towards land reforms.

Her government enacted the Goa, Daman and Diu Mundkars (Protection from Eviction) Act, 1975 and the Goa, Daman and Diu Agricultural Tenancy (5th Amendment) Act, 1976.

The Supreme Court of India upheld the constitutional validity of the Goa, Daman and Diu Agricultural Tenancy (5th Amendment) Act, 1976 in Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu v. Lakshmibai Narayan Patil.

Kakodkar also succeeded Bandodkar as the President of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and held the charge of both these posts until the 1977 Goa Legislative Assembly election.

Kakodkar took over the eleven portfolios held over by her father Dayanand Bandodkar, and created four more.

They included General Administration, Secretariat Administration, Home, Finance, Confidential & Vigilance Department, Industry, Public Works Department, Education, Information & Tourism, Public Health, Small Savings, Public Assistance, Provedoria, Social Welfare, and Goa Archives.

The portfolios of A. K. S. Usgaonkar and Pratapsingh Rane were left untouched.

Usgaonkar who was a freedom fighter and a businessman had five portfolios of Planning, Development, Irrigation & Power, Agriculture and Animal Husbandry.

Rane who was a political novice had eight portfolios of Law & Judiciary, Labour, Legislative Affairs, Revenue, Local Self Government, Housing & Junta, Civil Supplies and Food.

As Kakodkar took over the reins of the government, she accepted the mistakes and shortfalls of the Dayanand Bandodkar regime in a bid to win the support of his critics.

She vowed to carry forward the unfinished task of her father, in order to retain Bandodkar's supporters.

Aureliano Fernandes states that unlike Bandodkar, Shashikala emerged as an efficient administrator.

Fernandes further states that Kakodkar was less of an extrovert than her father, and consequently was far less accessible.

She was initially seen as "Bandodkar's daughter", but soon emerged as a leader in her own right.

This was evident from the victory of Ramakant Khalap, who was the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party's candidate in the Mandrem constituency by-election which was vacant following the demise of Dayanand Bandodkar.