Narayan Hari Naik - Veteran Freedom Fighter, Goa

in 1946, when a provisional local government was formed in India as precursor to imminent independence of India, the demand for liberation of Goa from the Portuguese became stronger. Some of the prominent proponents of the same like T. B. Cunha, Laximikant Bhembre, Rama Hegde and others were actively lending voice to this demand, Satyagrahas, a peaceful mode of protests, were offered by the youth leaders of the movement at different venues in Goa. However, the Fascist Portuguese regime did not pay heed to the Satyagraha movement and retaliated with brutal attacks on Satyagrahis. They were beaten and tortured mercilessly, their homes were ransacked, family members were harassed and every effort was made by the regime to crush the movement. Realizing that the cruel regime would not respond to the peaceful means ,some of the young revolutionaries of Goa decided to form an armed outfit to combat the fascists. The Revolutionary group called the outfit as Azad Gomantak Dal.

The revolutionaries of Azad Gomantak Dal planned and executed many attacks which shook the Fascist regime. They attacked various establishments, such as, police outposts like Old Goa to get guns and ammunitions, railway stations to disrupt the transportation of goods, Mapusa Fazenda office, etc. Along with Narayan Naik, Vishwanath Lawande, Prabhakar Sinari, Raja Naik, Tukaram kankonkar took part in these attacks but the Portuguese failed to trace them. They also attacked Banco Nacional Ultramarine official to get funds for their movement. This was one of the successful attacks which shook the regime and compelled them to take the help of PIDE, the secret police service, to capture the revolutionaries.