Surendranath Tipnis was the president of the Mahad Municipality in the early 1900s and a social activist. He was born in a CKP family. Along with other progressive social activists of the time such as A.V. Chitre and the

Chitpawan The Chitpavan Brahmin or the Kokanastha Brahmin is a Hindu Maharashtrian Brahmin community inhabiting Konkan, the coastal region of the state of Maharashtra. Initially working as messengers and spies in the late seventeenth century, the commun ...

Brahmin G. N. Sahasrabudhe, he was instrumental in helping

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 ...

during the Mahad Satyagraha. He declared

Mahad Mahad ( əɦaːɖ is a city in Raigad district (formerly Kulaba district) situated in the North Konkan region of Maharashtra state, India. It is located from District Headquarters Alibag, and from Mumbai. Mahad is known for Raigad Fort ...

's public spaces open to untouchables and invited Ambedkar to hold a meeting at Mahad in 1927. Later, he went on to become an MLA in Ambedkar's

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberal Party (UK), Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse work ...

. He was awarded the titles ''Dalitmitra'' (friend of the

Dalit Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...

s) and 'Nanasaheb'.

References

{{Reflist Marathi people Indian Hindus Hindu reformers Indian social reformers