RUPESH  SAMANT

SANKHALIM (GOA): The MLA of Sankhalim, which was then Pale constituency, used to travel in a bus to reach to Panaji during Assembly sessions. He used to stand up and travel if there were no seats available. I am not bluffing! Seriously I am not bluffing! And I am also not talking about Pramod Sawant.

During a usual social function in the village of Honda, which is on the periphery of Sattari and Bicholim taluka, I came across a frail personality interacting with the people around. He was humble. Dressed in a shirt and pant which is ubiquitous to every alternate aged person in the village.

Meet our former legislator of Sankhalim constituency, Vishnu Rama Naik. For some time, I was searching a person in sparkling white dress, expensive coolers and attitude in the crowd. But at the first glance, the personality of Naik made me utter respectful towards him.

There was no aura of being the former MLA though he was one amongst the legislators who has seen changing of face of Goa’s politics. He has seen the time when politicians used to change political parties, similar that of changing their shirt.

The political career of Naik started in the year 1972 when he was elected as the Sarpanch of Sankhalim Panchayat, which is now a municipality. He remained in the chair till 1982.

It was a time when Goa’s politics was into a transition. MGP which ruled the State from 1963 onwards had started withering away. The firm grip of the party on Goa’s politics was loosening. It was a period after death of Goa’s first chief minister Dayanand Bandodkar.

His daughter Shashikala was not able to wield the kind of political command and respect that her late father had enjoyed. The stalwarts like Pratapsinh Raoji Rane who began their career in MGP had started looking at Congress for their political future.

It was a time when Congress emerged as a political force to reckon with in the tiny State of Goa which saw regional parties ruling it.

Naik got elected on MGP ticket in the year 1980 in the 30 member legislative assembly which had 28 seats of Goa and two of Daman and Diu each. That was the first time since liberation that MGP went into opposition and Congress was ruling with Rane as its chief minister.

With the MGP losing its hold, the political class thought it was wise to cross over to Congress party so as to keep their future afloat. Naik recalls the time when he had an option to support Dr Wilfred D’Souza from United Goans or Rane from Congress.

“I chose Rane because he is our neighbour and he was from our area. Had I to support Dr Willy, people would have revolted against me,” said Naik who later went on to Head Goa Housing Board Corporation.

It was during his tenure that he procured lands in the areas of Sankhalim, Bicholim, Mapusa, Betim and Margao. “I did not want people to lose their fortune in the name of Housing Board projects. So, I had put up a condition that Board will directly purchase the lands from the owners and not through the government,” Naik stated.

The land prices that time in Goa were minimal. The lands were purchased for the cost as meagre as Rs. seven per square metres.

Naik, who was then owning five buses and equal number of trucks, recalls that he fought his entire election by spending Rs 1.20 lakh. “I invested entire money from my savings. I did not take a single paisa from the party. That was a time when people were not greedy. You didn’t had to buy the votes,” he said.

After his first tenure, Naik hung his shoes. When asked why; he replies- “I am not a politician. I was not willing to do the circus that everyone used to do. So I decided not to contest,” he said.

Living a retired life right now at his home at Harvalem in Sankhalim, Naik recalls the olden times when they used to travel by bus to reach to the Assembly Session. “It was a normal sight to see MLA travelling in a bus. The life was easy then,” he remembers getting nostalgic about the times when Sankhalim was a village. – End