By IANS,
Panaji : Home Minister Ravi Naik Thursday said the government would ban the entry into Goa of Sri Rama Sene chief Pramod Muthalik, who had vowed to storm the state to “detoxify” it from pub culture.
“We will not tolerate any form of ‘dadagiri’ (hooliganism) here. We are a peaceful, harmonious multicultural state,” Naik told reporters.
Muthalik, at a public meeting in Belgaum, a Karnataka district close to Goa, Wednesday said he along with his supporters would enter Goa to protest against the pub culture in the coastal state.
“We will agitate and create awareness against pub culture in Goa since this culture is spreading to other parts of the country,” Muthalik said.
Responding to the Muthalik threat, the minister said he would take up the issue with the director general of police in Goa and look at ways in which the Sri Rama Sene’s threat could be handled.
“We will consider all options to ensure that what happened in Mangalore does not happen here. He (Muthalik) has been banned from entering Mangalore. We will ban him here too,” Naik said, adding the state was already considering several other pre-emptive measures.
The home minister said there were several other sociological factors that would deter outfits like the Sri Rama Sene from setting up shop in Goa. “Goa is a literate state. People here are aware and more conscious. They will not accept such blatant hooliganism.”
The Hindu group hit the spotlight in January after it attacked a group of women in a Mangalore pub on grounds that they were violating traditional Indian values.
Muthalik, who has nearly 45 cases against him, was banned from entering Karnataka’s Mangalore district for a year.