Renowned US-born researcher, writer on Ambedkarism and Dalit movement Dr Gail Omvedt passed away following a brief illness at Kasegaon, in Sangli, Maharashtra, early on Wednesday, August 25. said an aide. She was 81 and is survived by her husband Dr Bharat Patankar, a daughter Prachi, son-in-law Tejaswi and grand-daughter Nia, who have settled in the US.
Born in Minneapolis in the US state of Minnesota, Dr Omvedt came to India after completing her higher studies and plunged herself into the various social movements for the Dalits, poor and downtrodden, farmers, women and other public causes.
The Omvedt-Patankar couple founded the Shramik Mukti Dal in the early-1980s, while she became an Indian citizen around 1983. She authored several books on various social subjects, taught in colleges and universities and penned columns for various newspapers, worked for the United Nations Development Programme, Oxfam NOVIB, and other international bodies.
Some of Omvedt’s books include In Colonial Society – Non-Brahmin Movement in Western India, New Social Movement in India, Seeking Begampura and Buddhism in India, among others. She headed the Phule-ambedkar Chair in Pune University, under the Department of Sociology. She taught as a professor at the Institute of Asian Studies in Copenhagen as well.
Dr Omvedt's last rites shall be performed on the morning of Thursday, August 25, at the Krantiveer Bapuji Patankar Sanstha campus in Sangli, the aide said.
Following her demise, the Dalit Intellectual Collective called her “one of India’s most original thinkers” in a statement, who did not let caste and class be erased in the feminist movement. “Time is yet to produce another scholar and incisive and capacious thinker like her,” the statement added.
Others who condoled Dr Gail’s deah included several Dalit-Bahujan groups and organisations, historian Ramchandra Guha, CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury, Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar and many others.
Such sad news to wake up to this morning. We cannot thank you enough for your contributions to the anti-caste/Ambedkarite movement, the immense knowledge and inspiration you have left us. Your legacy of social justice activism will be carried forward.
— Kiruba Munusamy (@kirubamunusamy) August 25, 2021
Rest in power, #GailOmvedt! pic.twitter.com/gCiKWhkjOV
AIDMAM expresses deep condolences in the demise of Gail Omvedt, Ambedkarite scholar who contributed immensely to anti-caste movement and feminist politics. Her absence will be an irreplaceable loss for Dalit feminist movement but Gail's thoughts will stay with us.
— All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch (@DalitWomenRise) August 25, 2021
Jai Bhim! pic.twitter.com/WbzV4sX42S
RIP Gail Omvedt. Your invaluable service Ito Indian sociology, anthropology is unparalleled. Especially Your indepth Rationale studies/ Research on Dr Ambedkar are key to his revolution and torch for us . Your Absence can't be filled by Any mortal.#Gailomvedt
— Samata Kala Manch-समता कला मंच (@samatakalamanch) August 25, 2021
@samatakalamanch pic.twitter.com/FcsyLIcYgW
Rest in power, Gail Omvedt.
— Ambedkar International Center (AIC) (@ambedkar_center) August 25, 2021
We thank her for her contributions to the Dalit and anti-caste movements and strengthening it through documentation. Her writings are among the best researched pieces on Ambedkarism, Dalit Bahujan movement and Untouchable Saints.
Jai Bhim#GailOmvedt pic.twitter.com/dNdywBa0dB
One of Dr Omvedt’s great contributions was to break down the boundary between sociology and history. She was equally at work in the archive and in the field. Do see her fine essay on the "Satara Prati Sarkar", published in a book edited by Gyanendra Pandey on the 1942 movement
— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) August 25, 2021
Deepest condolences.
— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) August 25, 2021
Gail Omvedt was a distinguished scholar activist with an uncompromising commitment.
She provided deep insights in understanding our social conditions.https://t.co/j59YxGDJl7
Scholar extraordinary & the co-founder of Ambedkar Studies, #GailOmvedt is no more. Gail dedicated her life to bringing forward the subaltern history by revolutinising the Phule - Ambedkarite scholarship to a greater heights with a rich & detailed analysis. It is a massive loss.
— Tribal Army (@TribalArmy) August 25, 2021
Saddened to hear about the demise of well known sociologist & prolific writer, Dr. Gail Omvedt. India has lost a strong voice of the anti-caste, farmers' & womens' rights movement. My heartfelt condolences to her family and loved ones. May the departed soul rest in eternal peace.
— Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) August 25, 2021
Deeply saddened by the passing away of Dr. Gail Omvedt, a great scholar-activist & author, who will be remembered for her quest towards research and contribution to the cause of justice, & empowerment of the marginalised.#GailOmvedt pic.twitter.com/ljifv8HEsV
— Nawab Malik نواب ملک नवाब मलिक (@nawabmalikncp) August 25, 2021
Gail Omvedt was not just a fabulous scholar, she was also a committed activist working in rural parts of Maharashtra. Her passing away is a great loss for the state's public sphere. Really saddened to hear this news.
— Tejas Harad (@h_tejas) August 25, 2021
Rest in power, Prof. Gail Omvedt! Your insights will continue to guide us. #GailOmvedt passed away today morning. She wrote numerous books on Bahujan and feminist movement in India. We will miss you professor! pic.twitter.com/ctbZHzWgWi
— Dilip Mandal (@Profdilipmandal) August 25, 2021
In a statement, Dalit rights activist Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd said:
“Dr Gail Omvedt (81) one of the greatest scholars on caste studies passed away on 24 August 2021 evening in her village Kasegaon Maharashtra. She has pioneered caste studies having come as a student from America and settled down in India in the 1970s. She later married Bharat Patankar, a Marxists scholar, activist; both of them lived in his village all along. She came to study caste and Mahatma Phule’s movement in Maharashtra as PhD student from America and got moved with the kind of caste and untouchability system in India and settled down in this country to work for the liberation of the oppressed castes.
As an American-born Indian scholar, sociologist and human rights activist she is well known all over the world for her writing on Dalit/OBC/Adivasis.
She is a prolific writer and has published numerous books. Her Ph.D thesis introduced Mahatma Phule’s Satyashodhak Movement to the world and her major book Dalits and Democratic Revolution became a hand book in every young student’s hands in the colleges and universities across India and also in the South Asian study centres of the world. Scholars study her books to understand the question of caste and untouchability and also change the caste system. She was a great Phule-Ambedkarite who led many movements from the front. The Shudra/OBC/Dalit/Adivasi movements all over India will be indebted to her life time work and inspiration.
All of us who worked with her in a long journey of Dalit/OBC/Adivasi/women’s liberation movements for the last forty years along with her husband Bharat Patankar and the only daughter Prachi Patanakar will celebrate her life and work as proud Indians.”
(With IANS inputs)