Purushottam Kakodkar

Purushottam Kesava Kakodkar (18 May 1913 Kudchade – 2 May 1998, Delhi) was a prominent politician and social worker from Goa. He served as a Member of Parliament in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

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, 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 down. He was among the vocal critics of the Salazar administration in Goa. In 1961, he pursued autonomy for Portuguese India but without success.

After Goa's liberation Kakodkar was the head of the Goa unit of the Congress, which was setup in Panjim from the residence of his close confidant and advisor Advocate Rui Gomes Pereira. Gomes Pereira was considered to be Goa's foremost legal counsel and an astute politician.

When the issue of Goa's merger with Maharashtra came up, Kakodkar was the chairperson of the Goa Congress. 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.

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 also a 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.

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