Ramdas Athawale | |
|---|---|
 Athawale in 2018 | |
| Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment | |
| Assumed office 5 July 2016 | |
| Prime Minister | Narendra Modi |
| Minister | Thawar Chand Gehlot (until 7 July 2021) Virendra Kumar Khatik (Incumbent) |
| Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha | |
| Assumed office 3 April 2014 | |
| President | |
| Chairman | |
| Preceded by | Prakash Javadekar |
| Constituency | Maharashtra |
| Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | |
| In office 6 October 1999 – 16 May 2009 | |
| Preceded by | Sandipan Thorat |
| Succeeded by | Constituency Abolished |
| Constituency | Pandharpur |
| In office 10 March 1998 – 26 April 1999 | |
| Preceded by | Narayan Athawale |
| Succeeded by | Manohar Joshi |
| Constituency | Mumbai North Central |
| Cabinet Minister for Social Welfare, Transport, Sports and Youth Welfare, Employment Guarantee,Government of Maharashtra | |
| In office 1990–1995 | |
| Member,Maharashtra Legislative Council | |
| In office 1990–1996 | |
| President ofRepublican Party of India (A) | |
| Assumed office 25 May 1999 | |
| Preceded by | "Office Established" |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ramdas Bandu Athawale (1959-12-25)25 December 1959 (age 65) |
| Political party | Republican Party of India (A) (1990–present) |
| Other political affiliations | National Democratic Alliance (2014–present) Republican Party of India (until 1990) |
| Occupation | Trade unionist, social worker |
Dr Ramdas Bandu Athawale (Marathi pronunciation:[aːʈʰʋəle]; born 25 December 1959) is an Indian politician, social activist and trade unionist fromMaharashtra. He is the president since 1999 of theRepublican Party of India (A), a splinter group of theRepublican Party of India, which has its roots in theScheduled Castes Federation led by Dr.B. R. Ambedkar. Currently, he is the Minister of State in theMinistry of Social Justice and Empowerment,Government of India since 2016 and represents Maharashtra inRajya Sabha, the upper house ofIndia's Parliament since 2014. Previously, he wasLok Sabha MP fromPandharpur from 1999 to 2009 and fromMumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency from 1998 to 1999. He was alsoCabinet minister ofMaharashtra from 1990 to 1995 and a member of theMaharashtra Legislative Council from 1990 to 1996.
Athawale was born on 25 December 1959 in Agalgaon,Sangli district,Bombay State, which is now Maharashtra.[1] His parents were Bandu Bapu and Honsabai Bandu Athawale. He attendedSiddharth College of Law, Mumbai and married to Seema Athawale, on 16 May 1992. He has a son.[2] Ramdas Athawale is a practitioner ofBuddhism.[3]
Athawale has been editor of a weekly magazine calledBhumika 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 asEkach Pyala.[2]
Athwale was inspired by B. R. Ambedkar, the Indian polymath. Following a split in theDalit Panther movement in 1974, Athawale joinedArun Kamble andGangadhar 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 theIndian National Congress (INC).[4]
Athawale was member ofMaharashtra Legislative Council from 1990 to 1996[2] and was Cabinet Minister for Social Welfare and Transport, Employment Guarantee Scheme and Prohibition Propaganda in theGovernment of Maharashtra between 1990 and 1995.[2]
He represented thePandharpur constituency of Maharashtra and is the president of the Republican Party of India (Athawale) (RPIA).[citation needed]
Athawale representedMumbai North Central in the12th Lok Sabha during 1998-99 and was elected to serve a second term in the13th Lok Sabha of 1999–2004. A third term, in the14th Lok Sabha, followed from 2004 to 2009.[2] 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 MaharashtrianDalit vote in their favour.[5] He left theNationalist Congress Party-INC alliance in 2011[citation needed] after having lost in the2009 Lok Sabha election,[2] when he contested the reservedShirdi constituency.[6] This defeat was despite a subsequent report bySocial Watch which ranked him as the second-best performing member of the 14th Lok Sabha, based on an analysis of various data points.[7] Athawale led the RPI party, joined the alliance ofShivsena and theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2011 and contestedBrihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections together.[citation needed]
In 2014, Athawale was elected to the Rajya Sabha, which is the upper house of parliament.[2] He became Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on 6 July 2016, working underThawar Chand Gehlot.[8]
His RPI(A) organisation is a part of theNational Democratic Alliance led by the BJP.[9]
Devyani Khobragade was proposed for the role of Personal Secretary to Athawale in July 2016 but the appointment was refused by Gehlot, who saw a conflict of interest because her father,Uttam Khobragade, was the national executive president of the RPI(A).[10]
When Athawale established a children's wing of the RPI(A) in September 2017, he appointed his son, then aged 12, to be its leader.[5]
In May 2019, Athawale continued his position as Minister of State forSocial Justice and Empowerment.[11]
In March 2020, a video of Athawale chanting 'Go Corona!' at a rally went viral and became a popular meme.[12]
During a 3-day tour of Bihar, on 29 March 2025, Athawale asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will "break the record of Jawahar Lal Nehru" and retain power for the fourth consecutive term.[13]
In 2015, following attacks on Dalits in the state ofHaryana, Athawale said that if the police were to continue turning a blind eye to their plight then special protection squads led by senior police officers should be formed from among members of the community and they should be grantedfirearms licenses so that they could protect themselves.[14][15] In December 2017, he suggested that Dalits should renounce Hinduism in favour of Buddhism in order to stop being subject to "atrocities". He also criticised the record of the Hindu-centric BJP andRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in dealing with issues relating to discrimination of not only Dalits but also other disadvantaged communities in India.[16] In March 2018, echoing remarks he had made soon after becoming Minister of State in 2016[17] and reacting in particular to recent atrocities against Dalits inSaharanpur,Unnao andAllahabad, Athawale advocatedinter-caste marriage as the best way to minimise such events and noted that he had married aBrahmin "to set an example". As he had done in December 2017, he attackedMayawati, a Dalit formerChief Minister ofUttar Pradesh, on this occasion for what he perceived as a lack of action to help Dalits during her four terms in office. He said that this had caused the community to shift their support to the BJP and RPI, while refuting charges that he was a puppet under BJP control.[18]
Although described as a Dalit leader, Athawale has caused controversy among Dalits. In January 2018, around 130 people were arrested when some Dalit activists protested against him during a speech.[19]
Aside from his involvement in Dalit affairs, Athawale has also advocatedreservation for economically disadvantagedupper caste communities. He has said that the government of India should release the caste-based information collected during the2011 Census of India, which is considered to be a politically sensitive dataset, in order to address inequities in the reservation system across the board. He rejects claims that doing so would lead to an increase in casteism.[20]
Athawale has said that reservation quota of 25 percent for Dalits should be introduced to sports, includingcricket, following India's defeat in the2017 ICC Champions Trophy Final against Pakistan,[21] and that the armed forces should also be subject to a quota regime. He has also said that, just as the Lok Sabha has constituencies reserved for members of theScheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, so too should the Rajya Sabha and the Union cabinet. In addition, he favours increasing the prevailing 50 per cent quota that exists for government jobs and places at educational institutions to 75 per cent, stressing that this would apply to all castes that are recognised as economically disadvantaged, which includes those categorised atOther Backwards Classes.[22]
On April 28, 2025, following thePahalgam attack and the2025 India-Pakistan border skirmishes anddiplomatic crisis, he stated that India should declare war againstPakistan if the country refuses to surrenderPakistan-occupied Kashmir.[23]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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