Ramakant Dattaram Khalap (born 5 August 1946) is an Indian politician. He was a member of the

11th Lok Sabha The 11th Lok Sabha was constituted after April–May 1996 general elections. The result of the election was a hung parliament, which would see three Prime Ministers in two years and force the country back to the polls in 1998. Atal Bihari Vajpa ...

. He is also former deputy

Chief Minister of Goa The chief minister of Goa is chief executive of the Indian state of Goa. As per the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but '' de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to ...

Early life

Ramakant Khalap was born on 5 August 1946 in Mandrem,

Portuguese India The State of India, also known as the Portuguese State of India or Portuguese India, was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded seven years after the discovery of the sea route to the Indian subcontinent by Vasco da Gama, a subject of the ...

to a

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

couple, Dattaram and Satyabhama Khalap. He worked as a school teacher and later as a college lecturer. After this, he completed a law degree, and soon became a famous and successful lawyer of

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

Political career

After the death of then

Dayanand Bandodkar, the

Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party ( MGP) is a political party in India. It was Goa's first ruling party after the end of Portuguese rule in Goa in 1961. The party has its base amongst non-Brahmin Hindu migrants from Maharashtra and their desce ...

put their support behind Khalap to contest the By-Election from the Mandrem Assembly seat left vacant by death of Bandodkar. Bhaie (Elder Brother), as Khalap is affectionately known in Goa, served as in his role in the Mandrem Assembly seat six times, five of them consecutively and then once more after serving in the eleventh Lok Sabha. Khalap was considered the most popular leader of the common man of Goa after Bhau Bandodkar. After

Shashikala Kakodkar Shashikala Kakodkar (7 January 1935 – 28 October 2016), also known as ''Tai'' (), was an Indian politician and a leader of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP). She served as the Chief Minister of Goa, Daman and Diu on two occasions, and ...

left

and joined

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

, Khalap became leader of

Goa Legislative Assembly The Goa Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the state of Goa in India. The Assembly meets at the Goa State Legislative Assembly Complex in Porvorim, Bardez. The Eighth Goa Legislative Assembly consists of 40 members. The assem ...

. Under his leadership, the

rose in prominence rapidly, winning eighteen seats in the subsequent elections. As recorded by the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

in the cases Dr. Kashinath Jalmi V/s State of Goa and Ravi Naik V/s State of Goa at one time

had clear majority of 25 MLAs in the 40 member

, however by blatant misuse of his powers under the Anti Defection Law and Constitution of India, the then

Governor of Goa The governor of Goa is the nominal head of the Indian state of Goa. The governor is appointed by the president for a term of five years. P. S. Sreedharan Pillai became 22th governor on 7 July 2021. Powers and functions The governor has: *Exec ...

did not make Khalap

. Khalap was

Law Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the 'prime minister', 'pre ...

of India. As

he enacted the Arbitration Act of India and drafted amendments to The Code of Civil Procedure of India and the Code of Criminal Procedures of India. Khalap introduced the Women's Reservation Bill in the Parliament. Khalap has been

Leader of Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

of Goa Assembly, President of the

Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party ( MGP) is a political party in India. It was Goa's first ruling party after the end of Portuguese India, Portuguese rule in Goa in 1961. The party has its base amongst non-Brahmin Hindu migrants from Maharashtra ...

Party, Deputy Chief Minister of Goa, Finance Minister of Goa, Minister of Water Resources of Goa, Minister of Social Welfare Department of Goa, Minister for Information Technology and Deputy Chairman of the Goa State Planning Board. There is a school named after him called Ramakant Khalap High School at Mandrem,

. He is Chairman of a Multi State Scheduled Co-operative Bank called The Mapusa Urban Co-operative Bank of Goa ( Bank of Goa). He formed Bardez Bazaar, a consumers cooperative society to cater needs of consumers of Goa. He was President of the Goa Cricket Association. Ramakant Khalap is actively involved with Konkan Marathi Sahitya Parishad, Samrat Club, Gomantak Marathi Parishad and Kala Academy Goa. Khalap is also a trustee of the Pravara Medical Trust which runs medical and other colleges at Pravaranagar, Maharashtra. Khalap has several developmental achievements to his credit. As Deputy Chief Minister of Goa and Minister of Social Welfare Department he started Dayanand Social Security Scheme of old age pension which he named after Dayanand Bandodkar. He was instrumental in forming the

Konkan Railway Corporation Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) is an Indian public sector undertaking which operates Konkan Railway and also undertakes other railway-related projects. It is wholly-owned by the Government of India under the administrative control of ...

and start the

Konkan Railway The Konkan Railway (abbreviated KR) is one of the 19 railway zones in India with its headquarters at CBD Belapur in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The Konkan Railway line from Roha to Thokur is operated and maintained by Konkan Railway co ...

along with Prof. Madhu Dandawate,

George Fernandes George Mathew Fernandes (3 June 1930 – 29 January 2019) was an Indian politician, trade unionist, statesman, and journalist, who served as the Minister of Defence (India), Defence Minister of India from 1998 until 2004. A veteran socialist, h ...

and others. He successfully led the pro-railway agitation against the opposition to

. When Khalap became MP on the first day of the house itself in a speech on reference to the late

President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (19 May 1913 – 1 June 1996) was an Indian politician who served as the president of India, serving from 1977 to 1982. Beginning a long political career with the Indian National Congress Party in the independence movem ...

, Khalap demanded that best remembrance for the late President would be completion of a Bridge at Dhargal on NH 17 whose foundation stone was laid by

. All the Lok Sabha members were so impressed that Khalap was successful in getting completion of two bridges, one on NH 17 at Dhargal and another one on Chapora river at Mandrem. Khalap, later as a Minister in H. D. Deve Gowda Government was instrumental in getting the

International Airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

for

at Mopa. As Minister of Water Resources of Goa, Khalap completed River Linkage project, linking all the rivers and water bodies and further brought water of Tillari Irrigation Project to Goa ending water shortage of Goa. Khalap got created the Information Technology Department for Govt. of Goa and was the first IT Minister of Goa. All the notable work of Goa in IT sector is due to Bhaie, even when he was in opposition, Khalap secured interest of ordinary Goans in every field. As a strong Marathi supporter Khalap secured interest of Marathi in the language issue as official language of the State of Goa, in the Goa Official Languages Act, though Khalap was leader of opposition at the time and the ruling congress party was in favour of

Konkani __NOTOC__ Konkani may refer to: Language * Konkani language is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Konkan region of India. * Konkani alphabets, different scripts used to write the language **Konkani in the Roman script, one of the scripts used to ...

. On language issue Khalap is of the opinion that

with Davnagari script and

with

Roman script The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

, all three should be official languages of Goa and that primary education should be in mother tongue with one paper of English. Khalap's tenure as

was so successful that the

Pramod Mahajan Pramod Venkatesh Mahajan (30 October 1949 – 3 May 2006) was an Indian politician from Maharashtra. A second-generation leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he belonged to a group of relatively young " technocratic" leaders. At the time ...

famously said that, he is a member of the single largest party in the parliament and he is in opposition".......And He is Mr. Ramakanth Khalap, he is the only member of his party and he is the Government."This is what democracy in India is! Khalap is a senior leader of

and a member of

All India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from States and union territories of India, state-level Pradesh Congress Commit ...

(AICC). Khalap is also a GPCC Executive Committee member, member of Manifesto Implementation Committee and Spokesman of Goa Pradesh Congress. For a short while he joined BJP when circumstances were such that BJP rule in

was inevitable due to pressure of BJP government at centre. Khalap famously explained it to his supporters as 'Bachenge to aur ladenge'. Khalap is a freedom fighter who started his political career as an aid to other freedom fighters working for liberation of Goa from Portuguese rule. He is considered a politician of old block, a non-corrupt principled politician. His opponents, though tried to falsely implicate him, on one hand, people of Goa have continued to keep faith in Khalap, on the other hand, those opposing Khalap are themselves found to be charge-sheeted for scams and corruption. Khalap was also the Chairman of the Goa State Law Commission with Cabinet Minister Rank. As the Chairman of the Law Commission, Goa he drafted bills to make revolutionary changes in Revenue Administration and Revenue Courts in the State of Goa. He also worked on amendment of Portuguese laws of Goa along with other members of the Law Commission. Khalap is the Founder Chairman of the International Arbitration Centre Goa.

Personal life

Khalap is a

Maratha The Marathi people (; Marathi: , ''Marāṭhī lōk'') or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, ''Marāṭhī'') are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-A ...

by caste. He is married to Nirmala Khalap and has three sons, Shriniwas (lawyer) married to Shraddha Khalap who contested the

2017 Goa Legislative Assembly election The 2017 Goa Legislative Assembly election was held on 4 February 2017 to elect the 40 members of the Seventh Goa Legislative Assembly, as the term of Sixth Legislative Assembly ended on 18 March 2017. VVPAT-fitted EVMs was used in entire Goa ...

Aam Aadmi Party The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP, ) is a List of political parties in India, political party in India. It was founded on 26 November 2012 by Arvind Kejriwal and his then-companions, following the 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement against then gover ...

ticket from Mapusa constituency; Nikhilchandra (Civil engineer) married to Pratiksha (a doctor and clinical researcher by profession); and Ashwin (hotelier). Khalap has a granddaughter Anahita and 3 grandsons named Ojas, Jaikeshi and Om.Congressman Ramakant Khalap’s daughter-in-law gets AAP nomination for Goa polls
/ref>

References

External links

* http://goalawcommission.gov.in/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Khalap, Ramakant Living people 1947 births India MPs 1996–1997 Lok Sabha members from Goa Law ministers of India Deputy chief ministers of Goa Politicians from North Goa district Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Goa Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party politicians Indian National Congress politicians from Goa Leaders of the opposition in Goa Union ministers of state of India Goa, Daman and Diu MLAs 1972–1977 Goa MLAs 1977–1980 Goa MLAs 1980–1984 Goa MLAs 1984–1989 Goa MLAs 1989–1994 Goa MLAs 1999–2002