Ramdas Athawale
Ramdas Athawale
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Ramdas Athawale

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Ramdas Athawale

Dr Ramdas Bandu Athawale (Marathi pronunciation: [aːʈʰʋəle]; born 25 December 1959) is an Indian politician, social activist and trade unionist from Maharashtra. He is the president since 1999 of the Republican Party of India (A), a splinter group of the Republican Party of India, which has its roots in the Scheduled Castes Federation led by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. Currently, he is the Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India since 2016 and represents Maharashtra in Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's Parliament since 2014. Previously, he was Lok Sabha MP from Pandharpur from 1999 to 2009 and from Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency from 1998 to 1999. He was also Cabinet minister of Maharashtra from 1990 to 1995 and a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council from 1990 to 1996.

Athawale was born on 25 December 1959 in Agalgaon, Sangli district, Bombay State, which is now Maharashtra. His parents were Bandu Bapu and Honsabai Bandu Athawale. He attended Siddharth College of Law, Mumbai and married to Seema Athawale, on 16 May 1992. He has a son. Ramdas Athawale is a practitioner of Buddhism.

Athawale has been editor of a weekly magazine called Bhumika and is a founder member of Parivartan Sahitya Mahamandal. He has served as president of Parivartan Kala Mahasangha, the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Foundation and the Bauddha Kalawant Academy (Buddhist Artists Academy) and was founder president of Bauddha Dhamma Parishad (Buddhism conference). He played the title role in a Marathi film, Anyayacha Pratikar, and also had a small role in another Marathi film, Joshi ki Kamble, as well as roles in Marathi dramas such as Ekach Pyala.

Athwale was inspired by B. R. Ambedkar, the Indian polymath. Following a split in the Dalit Panther movement in 1974, Athawale joined Arun Kamble and Gangadhar Gade in leading a rump in Maharashtra. His involvement with a faction of the Republican Party of India, despite the Panther's general disdain for its leadership, eventually led to an association with the Indian National Congress (INC).

Athawale was member of Maharashtra Legislative Council from 1990 to 1996 and was Cabinet Minister for Social Welfare and Transport, Employment Guarantee Scheme and Prohibition Propaganda in the Government of Maharashtra between 1990 and 1995.

He represented the Pandharpur constituency of Maharashtra and is the president of the Republican Party of India (Athawale) (RPIA).[citation needed]

Athawale represented Mumbai North Central in the 12th Lok Sabha during 1998-99 and was elected to serve a second term in the 13th Lok Sabha of 1999–2004. A third term, in the 14th Lok Sabha, followed from 2004 to 2009. Considered something of a lightweight in state politics, he has been courted at various times by various parties because of a perception that he might assist in mobilising the scattered Maharashtrian Dalit vote in their favour. He left the Nationalist Congress Party-INC alliance in 2011[citation needed] after having lost in the 2009 Lok Sabha election, when he contested the reserved Shirdi constituency. This defeat was despite a subsequent report by Social Watch which ranked him as the second-best performing member of the 14th Lok Sabha, based on an analysis of various data points. Athawale led the RPI party, joined the alliance of Shivsena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2011 and contested Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections together.[citation needed]

In 2014, Athawale was elected to the Rajya Sabha, which is the upper house of parliament. He became Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on 6 July 2016, working under Thawar Chand Gehlot.

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