New Delhi: In 2002, India elected missile scientist Dr A P J Abdul Kalam as its president. In 2012, a campaign is on to anoint its ace nuclear scientist and administrator Dr Anil Kakodkar to the topmost constitutional seat. A movement anchored by Western Indian state Goa's top business collective, the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), scientists and the local intelligentsia is beginning to gather momentum here, backing the candidature of Anil Kakodkar, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India (AECI) and former Director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) for the post of president. Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) Manguirish Pai Raikar told Bikyamasr.com that a workgroup was already in place lobbying to put Kakodkar in the top constitutional slot. “We are working towards promoting Dr Kakodkar as a consensus apolitical presidential candidate. He is one of the most deserving persons, who has excelled in the field of his expertise,” Raikar said. Of Goan origin, Kakodkar is the son of Gandhian freedom fighter and former state Congress president Purshottam Kakodkar. He however was born in central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and spent his educative years in Mumbai, before hitting his peak as a nuclear scientist and administrator. He has also been honored with three the Padma Shri in 1998, the Padma Bhushan in 1999 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2009. “We appeal to all political parties to form a consensus to elect Dr Anil Kakodkar as the next president of India. He is a son of a freedom fighter, an able statesman, a world renowned scientist, respectable and apolitical and above all a wonderful human being having risen from a very humble environment,” Raikar said, adding that eminent people from Goa, including scientists like the head of Goa's National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) Dr S R Shetye and Dr P S Ramani, a renowned surgeon were backing Kakodkar's candidature. “We are starting a website which will help to canvas for Dr Kakodkar's candidature as president. We are creating a network which will personally meet representatives of every party seeking their support for his Presidential candidature,” Raikar said. The race for a successor to outgoing president Pratibha Patil, whose term expires in April has already started heating up. Nationalist Congress party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar's insistence on an apolitical candidate for the top constitutional post has already made the race for president all the more interesting. The run has already thrown up some options in form of current vice president Hamid Ansari, former president APJ Kalam, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, etc. In 2002, defense scientist A P J Abdul Kalam, also known as the ‘missile man' of India was elected president.
