Annabhau Sathe.

• Recently, Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnav unveiled a statue of Lok Shahir (balladeer) Annabhau Sathe at the All-Russia State Library for Foreign Literature in Moscow.

About:

• Annabhau Sathe (1 August 1920 – 18 July 1969)
• Tukaram Bhaurao Sathe, popularly known as Anna Bhau Sathe was a social reformer, folk poet, and writer from Maharashtra.
• He was a Dalit born into the untouchable community, and his upbringing and identity were central to his writing and political activism.
• In 1930, his family left the village and came to Mumbai. Here, he worked as a porter, a hawker and even a cotton mill helper.
• During his days at the Matunga Labour Camp, he got to know R B More, an associate of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in the famous ‘Chavdar Lake’ satyagraha at Mahad, and joined the Labour Study Circle.
• Sathe was a Marxist-Ambedkarite mosaic, initially influenced by the communists but he later became an Ambedkarite.
• He is credited as a founding father of ‘Dalit Literature’ and played vital role in Samyukta Maharashtra Movement.
• In 1939, he wrote his first ballad ‘Spanish Povada’.
• Almost six of his novels were turned into films and many translated into other languages, including Russian.

Russian connection:

• He was once called the Maxim Gorky of Maharashtra.
• He was immensely inspired by Gorky’s ‘The Mother’ and the Russian revolution, which was reflected in his writings.
• He travelled to Russia in 1961 along with a group of other Indians.