Namdeo Dhasal, firebrand activist and Marathi writer, passes away

• The crusading Marathi poet-writer and leader of the Dalit Panthers movement, Namdeo Dhasal (64) passed away in Mumbai. 

About Namdeo Dhasal

• Pioneer of the Dalit literature movement known for its deep concern for the under-privileged.
• Lately, he was writing columns for the Marathi daily Saamana.

Awards and Honors: 

• Padma Shri award, Soviet Land Nehru Award, Maharashtra State Award and Golden Life Time Achievement.

Notable Works:

• Golpitha, Moorkh Mhataryane, Tujhu Iyatta Kanchi, Khel, Priyadarshini (based on late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi).
• For Golpitha, he got Soviet Land Nehru Award.
• Dilip Chitre translated a selection of Dhasal’s poems into English under the title ‘Namdeo Dhasal: Poet of the Underworld’, Poems 1972-2006.
• One of the founders of the militant Dalit Panther movement which started after the casteist riots in Worli’s BDD chawls in the late ’60s.