Noted Ambedkarite scholar and activist Krishna Kiravale was found dead with multiple stab wounds in his Kolhapur home on Friday evening. Kiravale had retired in 2016 as head of the Marathi department at Shivaji University. The murder comes two years after unknown assailants shot communist activist Govind Pansare, also in Kolhapur.
Kiravale’s wife called the police after she found him dead, said Sunil Patil, assistant sub inspector of the Rajarampur police station. Police officials are now questioning Kiravale’s neighbours, but more details are not yet available.
Kiravale was best known for his contribution to the body of literature on Ambedkari jalsa, a form of protest street theatre in Maharashtra. He wrote several books on Dalit literature, and one of them is considered one of the most significant reference books on the art form.
He was also at the forefront of the Namantar movement, which sought to rename Aurangabad’s Marathwada University after Dr BR Ambedkar. The agitation, which lasted from 1978 to 1994, led to violent reprisals, and several Dalits were murdered across the state.
“He was a pure Ambedkarite who rejected Marxism,” said his friend Sachin Garud, head of the history department at Karmveer Bhaurao Patil College, Uran-Islampur. “Even within his department there were a lot of ideological disagreements with those colleagues who believed in nationalism. He kept up these disagreements at discussions outside the college too.”
Kiravale was born in Aurangabad and retained his links to Marathwada through students from that region even after he joined Shivaji University. He was also a poet.
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