president of the Goa Konkani Akademi
What was the position of Purushottam Kakodkar from 1984 to 1985?
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 . Freedom fighter . 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 . He was among the vocal critics of the Salazar administration in Goa . In 1961 , he pursued autonomy for Portuguese India but without success . After Goas liberation Kakodkar was the head of the Goa unit of the Congress , which was set up in Panjim from the residence of his close confidant and advisor Advocate Rui Gomes Pereira . Gomes Pereira was considered to be Goas foremost legal counsel and an astute politician . Contribution to the Goa Opinion Poll . When the issue of Goas merger with Maharashtra came up , Kakodkar was the chairperson of the Goa Pradesh Congress committee . 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 against the mighty Maharastra . Political career . 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 a nominated 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 . Criticism . In his book Panthast , Goan writer Ravindra Kelekar blamed the failure of the non-violent Goa Freedom Movement , spearheaded by Lohia on the squabbles and ego-clashes between Kakodkar and Ram Hegde . Kelekar also stated that Kakodkar was once responsible for Mahatma Gandhi having to apologise to the Portuguese . While he was logged in Aguada jail , Kakodkar had begun a fast against the harassment meted out by the Portuguese authority to the freedom fighters . Gandhiji had made a note of this in his paper Harijan . The Portuguese replied that Kakodkar was not fasting . Gandhiji is supposed to have sent a man , who was a relative of Kakodkar , to verify this . His relative verified that although Kakodkar was not taking any food from the jail , he was getting food from outside . A shocked Gandhi tendered an apology to the Portuguese through the Harijan . Other activities . Kakodkar was the president of the Goa Konkani Akademi from 1984-1996 . Death . Purushottam Kakodkar died on 2 May 1998 in Delhi at the age of 85 . Family . His son Anil Kakodkar is former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India .