The Ponda police in South Goa on Thursday released BJP worker Ramdas Naik, who was arrested on Wednesday after he questioned Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar about the State government’s tenancy laws decision.

Mr. Naik was arrested from a corner meeting organised by the BJP at the Shiroda Assembly constituency, South Goa. He was detained by the police and later booked under section 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code at Ponda police station.

Mr. Naik had asked Mr. Parrikar about the BJP-led government’s controversial decision to amend tenancy laws in the State, which adversely affected a large number of ongoing tenancy rights litigations as they were transferred from civil administration to trial courts.

“I tried to ask him why the State government had amended tenancy law, which is causing a lot of hardship to people like me. [During this] the police caught me and dragged me to the police station,” Mr. Naik told The Hindu, adding that he was fighting his “mundkarial land title” case before Mamlatdar for several years, but will now have to fight it before the trail court.

According to Ponda police inspector Sudesh Naik, Mr. Naik was arrested because he was trying to “obstruct the meeting”. Meanwhile, the Congress lashed out at the BJP for being anti-democratic.