Every little bit of constructive criticism strengthens our faltering democracy but it is unfortunate that some politicians take things too personally and try to crush any criticism, if not eliminate the source of it and even sometimes uses the police as a tool to meet this end.
Over the years I have had the privilege of being associated with various student and other agitations during the then Chief Minister Mrs. Shashikala Kakodkar's regime and later during the tenure of Mr. Pratapsingh Rane and other Chief Ministers. In 1986 during the Konkani language movement, the then Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane ordered my detention under the National Security Act (NSA) on that Christmas Eve only to be released by the Bombay High Court on New Year’s Eve. In sharp contrast Mrs Shashikala Kakodkar was definitely never vindictive. Though I was a very close family friend of the Kakodkar family, Shashikala respected my right to oppose some of her government’s policies and decisions. And for this I respected and still hold her in high esteem. She was more than a "Tai" to me. She was always and perhaps still is very concerned about my well being. Aires Rodrigues Ribandar
