Gangadhar Sukhdev Gade (1939 – 4 May 2024) was an Indian politician and

Ambedkarite Ambedkarism is called as the teaching, ideology or philosophy of B.R. Ambedkar, an Indian economist, barrister, social reformer, and the first of Minister of Law and Justice in the first cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru. Ambedkarism includes specia ...

sociopolitical activist from

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. He was a leader of the

Republican Party of India The Republican Party of India (RPI, often called the Republican Party or simply Republican) was a political party in India. It had its roots in the All-India Scheduled Castes Federation led by N. Sivaraj and B. R. Ambedkar. The Party was e ...

, and was president of the Panther Republic Party. He was elected to the

Maharashtra Legislative Assembly The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (ISO: ''Mahārāṣṭra Vidhāna Sabhā'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Maharashtra state in western India. It consists of 288 members directly elected from single-seat constituenci ...

in 1972. He was also the Transport Minister during the First Vilasrao Deshmukh ministry for six months. A popular Buddhist leader among the state, Gade was the leader of the

Namantar Andolan Namantar Andolan (English: Name Change Movement) was a Dalit and Navayana Buddhist movement to change the name of Marathwada University, in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India, to ''Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar University''. It achieved a measure of suc ...

(Name change movement) of

Marathwada University Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (BAMU), is an public university located in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra. It is named after B. R. Ambedkar, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, an Indian social reformer and political leader who cha ...

. On 7 July 1977,

Dalit Panther The Dalit Panthers was a militant organisation that sought to combat caste discrimination. It was led by a group of Mahar writers and poets, including Raja Dhale, Namdeo Dhasal, and J. V. Pawar in some time between the second and the third se ...

s general secretary Gade firstly demanded that the name of

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (Bhīmrāo Rāmjī Āmbēḍkar; 14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who chaired the committee that drafted the Constitution of India based on t ...

be given to the then

. Gade was born in 1939 in Kavthal village of

Morshi Morshi is the second largest town in the Amravati district of Maharashtra, India. It is situated near the Madhya Pradesh border, in the scenic southern foothills of the Satpura ranges, 55 km northeast of Amravati. Morshi and the surroundi ...

taluka A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative ...

Amravati district Amravati district (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, �mɾaːʋət̪iː is a Districts of Maharashtra, district of Maharashtra state in central India. It is the administrative headquarter of Amravati division, which is one of the two ...

. He died in Aurangabad on 4 May 2024, at the age of 85.

References

1939 births 2024 deaths Republican Party of India politicians Marathi politicians Maharashtra politicians Indian Buddhists Social workers from Maharashtra Dalit activists Activists from Maharashtra 20th-century Indian politicians 21st-century Indian people People from Aurangabad, Maharashtra Maharashtra MLAs 1972–1978 Republican Party of India (Athawale) politicians Bahujan Samaj Party politicians from Maharashtra {{Maharashtra-politician-stub