Noted Marathi poet and one of the founders of Dalit Pather movement Namdeo Dhasal died at the Bombay Hospital here on Wednesday morning, following protracted illness.
Dhasal, who had been in and out hospitals in recent years as he battled with colorectal cancer, breathed his last in the wee hours of Wednesday at the Intensive Care Unit of the Bombay Hospital, where he was being treated for quite some time. Dhasal was 64. His funeral will take place on Thursday.
Apart from being a Dalit writer of repute, he was one of the founders of the militant Dalit Panther movement which took in birth after caste riots in Worli’s BDD chawls in the late sixties.
A pioneer of the Dalit literature movement in Maharashtra, poet Dhasal’s first collection of poems Golpitha earned him critical claim. Incidentally, Dhasal had named after the prostitution hub in Mumbai, where he grew up.
Son of a butcher, Dhasal was born on February 15, 1949 in a village in Pune district. He had his upbringing in the infamous red-light area of Kamathipura in south Mumbai. He was drawn towards socialist movement and Dalit literature, while working as a taxi driver in Mumbai.
Along with some like-minded youngsters, he set up a radical organisation named Dalit Panthers on July 9, 1972. Inspired as it was by the American 'Black Panthers” movement, the Dalit Panthers took the Shiv Sena head on in Mumbai, both ideologically and on the streets.
Having broadened the definition of the word Dalit, he redefined the very term to include all exploited groups, including women, irrespective of their caste, as Dalits. later, some of his Dalit Panther colleagues parted ways, accusing him of practicing communism.
Among his poetry collections were: Moorkh Mhataryane, a work inspired by Maoist thoughts, Tujhi Iyatta KanchiIJ , Mi Marale Suryachya Rathache Sat Ghode, Tujhe Boat Dharoon Mi Chalalo Ahe and Priya Darshini (on former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi).
Dhasal also wrote two novel and published pamphlets Andhale Shatak and Ambedkari Chalwal, a work that reflected the socialist and communist concepts of BR Ambedkar
Dhasal supported Emergency and published a collection of poem in Indira Gandhi’s praise. Once a vociferous critic of the Shiv Sena, Dhasal became close to Sena chief Bal Thackeray in later years. He used to write a regular column for the Sena’s mouth-piece Saamana.