Lohia's Meeting Impact on Young Population of Goa
On 19th June 1946, Narayan Naik and two of his colleagues, namely Laxmidas Borkar and Bablo Singbal, under the guidance of their teacher Shri Manpat Shah, led a group of students to the Panaji Police Headquarters to protest against the arrest of Dr. Lohia after his historic speech at Margao on 18th June 1946. The Portuguese police attacked the peacefully protesting students, beating them with belts, boots and batons. They did not spare even the children and women during this attack. The student leaders were dragged, continuously hit by kicks and belts, and detained at the Panaji Police Headquarters. They were finally released later in the night, after a stern warning.
Satyagraha's Under the Banner of Goa National Congress
Undeterred by the warning, Narayan Naik joined the Goa National Congress as a volunteer and attended training camp for conducting Satyagrahas and peaceful protests at Satarda. He also attended a training camp at Belgao where leaders like Dr. Lohia and Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay guided the volunteers. At the end of the training, Narayan Naik and his two friends Borkar and Singbal were given the responsibility of spreading and strengthening the movement among the Goan youth and holding Satyagrahas at Sanguem, Quepem and Canacona under the guidance of Dr. Narayan Bhembre.
18 December 1946 Satyagraha at Sanguem, Goa.
On 18th December 1946, Narayan Naik offered Satyagraha at Sanguem, following which he was arrested and tortured mercilessly. The Portuguese police first attempted to drown him in a water body, he was beaten with belts and kicked around. He was then dragged to the the police station and he was thrown on the floor and beaten on the soles with palmatreo, a baton with flat perforated end, after holding him immobile. He was left shivering in his drenched clothes and by late night he suffered from high fever. He was neither given any food nor dry clothes. This torture went on for some days and finally, after shaving his head and sternly warning him to quit the agitation, they released him. After his release, it took him over two weeks to recover from the injuries of the assault and torture.
Armed Rebellion leading to Formation of Azad Gomantak Dal
Disappointed by the kind of inhuman treatment meted out to the volunteers who followed Gandhian way of Satyagraha and peaceful protests; Narayan Naik, along with his like-minded colleagues like, Vishwanath Lawande, Dattatraya Deshpande, Tukaram Kankonkar, Prabhakar Sinari, etc., founded a revolutionary outfit for armed rebellion, Azad Gomantak Dal. This outfit gained support from many young Goans who joined them in various capacities in the fight against the oppressive Portuguese regime.
Narayan Naik played crucial role in the many daring missions which were conducted by the Azad Gomantak Dal to strengthen the liberation movement. Some of the prominent actions among them were the attacks on Old Goa Police Station, Mapusa Fazenda and attack on the manager of Banquo Nacional Ultramarino at Porvorim.
Arrests of Narayan Naik and other Members of Azad Gomantak Dal
Agitated after this spate of attacks by the AGD volunteers, the Portuguese Government realized the seriousness of the movement and commenced a massive operation to comb out and arrest them by engaging the secret service Policia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado (PIDE), and the local Police.
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The Portuguese police after being tipped by a local about Tukaram Kankonkar being involved in the revolutionary activities, on 7th December 1947, arrested Narayan Naik & Mukund Dhakankar as identified by the local informer as friends of Tukaram Kankonkar. As this news spread, Tukaram Kankonkar and Vishwanath Lawande managed to cross Goan borders and took shelter in Maharashtra; however, others like Prabhakar Sinari, Babla Singbal, Dattatray Deshpande, Jaiwant Kunde, Raghuvir Kamat, Madan Kolwalkar were soon arrested.
