From invoking NSA to jailing netas, Naik tackled Goa’s ‘goondagiri’ with iron hand

Panaji: When ‘goondaraj’, or gang culture, began to rise in the sunshine state in the 1990s, 45-year-old Ravi Naik, then a first-time chief minister from the Bahujan Samaj, was seen as Goa’s saviour. He lived up to that billing during his 28-month term as chief minister by systematically and fearlessly cracking down on anyone found to be challenging law and order. Even erring MLAs and former ministers were not spared in his crusade to break the backbone of ‘goondagiri’.Naik famously invoked the stringent National Security Act (NSA) to detain Churchill Alemao — a former CM himself — in the 1990s. Condoling his death on Wednesday, Alemao said, “Ravi was a good leader. Some people forced him to detain me under the NSA.”In 1991, Naik used the NSA once more to detain Rodolfo Fernandes — the son of then Santa Cruz MLA Victoria — who wielded substantial clout as president of an infamous group called ‘Goa Protectors’. The detention was, however, set aside by a court.His relentless crackdown on anti-social elements and criminals continued during his tenure as home minister between 2007 and 2012 in the Digambar Kamat-led cabinet. Naik gave the Goa police a free hand to act against any person found to be involved in crime. Under his watch, the police, in 2008, arrested then Taleigao MLA and incumbent revenue minister Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate, his wife and present Taleigao MLA Jennifer, and others in connection with an attack on the Panaji police station. The police alleged that a mob led by the Monserrate couple and then Panaji mayor Tony Rodrigues, had attacked the police station demanding the release of some prisoners.A couple of years later, the police arrested former tourism minister Francisco ‘Mickky’ Pacheco in connection with the 2010 high-profile death case of 28-year-old Nadia Torrado, Pacheco’s close friend.Interestingly, Naik is also believed to have pulled up male college students sporting long hair after drawing inspiration from the lead actor of a popular movie released in the 1990s.His no-nonsense approach to tackling crime continues to remain in public memory amid the spate of crime reported in the state in the recent past. A few days ago, when supporters of AAP visited the ministerial block of the state legislative assembly to submit one lakh letters collected during the party’s ‘BJP che Burak’ campaign to CM Pramod Sawant, they met Naik and suggested that he take over as home minister to tackle Goa’s deteriorating law and order situation. AAP’s Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas called Naik a “strong home minister”.