Independence activist

During the early 1940s, Naikwadi and his colleagues resorted to armed conflict against the British colonial authorities. In order to raise funds for the movement, his group robbed a government treasury in Dhule and supported the insurgency against the Nizam of Hyderabad.During one of his skirmishes with the British police, he was caught after being injured by a bullet. While in custody at Satara jail, he staged a jailbreak with his fellow activists. The British colonial government announced a reward on his head but Naikwadi managed to stay underground for four years. In 1943, along with Nana Patil, Kisanrao Ahir and a few others, he declared a parallel government, Prati Sarkar, which operated in around 150 villages in the western Maharashtra region which included Satara and Sangli.