PANAJI
Known for his sharp wit, Ravi Naik was a master of the political one-liner. Whether in the Assembly or on the campaign trail, his quips often left both allies and opponents chuckling — or speechless.
One of his most quoted lines, delivered during a heated debate in the Assembly, was: “Politics is not a circus — but some people insist on juggling nonsense.”
Another recent one-liner of his in the Assembly was: "Speaker Sir, please make 40 copies of the Rules of Conduct of Business of the House and distribute them to all members. I will pay for it."
But apart from his wit and comic utterances, his long career is dotted with significant governance and policy achievements, including his much-acclaimed crackdown on crime and criminal elements upon becoming Chief Minister after leading an MGP faction to defect to the Congress in 1991.
He did suffer political setbacks, like the end of his stint as Chief Minister in 1993, when the Bombay High Court disqualified him as MLA for defection under the Xth Schedule.
Nonetheless, he made a comeback as CM in a bizarre fashion after his disqualification was overturned by the Supreme Court and his successor, the late Dr Wilfred de Souza, was comically and unilaterally dismissed by then Governor Bhanu Prakash Singh, who swore him in on April 1, 1993. However, Singh was sacked by the Centre in less than 24 hours of the bizarre political act, and Ravi lasted as caretaker CM for just five more days until De Souza was sworn in again.
Soon after, Ravi suffered another setback when he lost the 1994 election in Marcaim and spent a few years in political wilderness. He rose again in four years to score a spectacular comeback with a win in the 1998 Lok Sabha election when he defeated the BJP's Pandurang Raut by a wafer-thin 416-vote margin to become MP of North Goa.
Subsequently, he returned to State politics but faced criticism for his handling of the Home Department over an alleged police-politician-drug mafia nexus when Home Minister in the Digambar Kamat-led Congress government.
In the current term since the 2022 elections, he served as Agriculture Minister in the BJP-led Pramod Sawant government and piloted the first ever 'Agriculture Policy'. He was also the first proponent of the idea of a third district for Goa with Ponda as headquarters. However, the government accepted the proposal and approved it in the cabinet but excluded the Ponda taluka.
