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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Veteran social activist Mrinal Gore passes away

Veteran social activist Mrinal Gore passes away

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published Published on Jul 18, 2012   modified Modified on Jul 18, 2012
-The Hindu

Veteran socialist Mrinal Gore, known for her dauntless activism on the issues of price rise, water rights and women’s empowerment, passed away following cardiac arrest at Vasai, Thane district on Tuesday. She was 84.

“For the past 10 days she was at my house,” said daughter Anjali Vartak.

“She had suffered a bronchitis attack and was on ventilator. She was feeling weak. She had fever too. Today [on Tuesday] she was feeling breathless and later died,” Ms. Vartak told The Hindu on the phone.

The activist also had low blood pressure and diabetes.

“She dedicated her life to public service. Her character was exemplary and she worked with gumption. Such was her dedication that when she was offered the Health Ministry by [the then Prime Minister] Morarji Desai, she refused it, saying she wanted to work among the people. She had a very generous nature and led a very simple life. She would open the purse strings and help people in need,” said Ms. Gore’s long-time colleague Madhu Adilkar.

Ms. Gore earned the sobriquet ‘Paniwali Bai’ for her efforts to bring drinking water supply to Goregaon, a Mumbai suburb, where she resided.

“She was known to bring tremendous pressure on the government with her ‘rolling pin’ morchas. She used the technique of gheroing ministers and administrators. She did not resort to violence or vilification. She persevered determinedly, without bribing anyone. She worked systematically. That’s why she commanded respect and awe among people in the government.”

Mr. Adilkar also recalled how Ms. Gore managed to evade arrest during the rail strike called by George Fernandes in 1974.

Nationalist Congress Party corporator Vidya Chavan recalled a meeting with Ms. Gore when party chief Sharad Pawar called on her four months ago. “She recalled the good days of her party Janata Dal (Secular) when in power at the Centre. Mr. Pawar recalled her work as Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly when he was Chief Minister. He said those days there was no mudslinging and use of unparliamentarily language as we see today.”

“I attended Ms. Gore’s andolan meetings against price rise in the late 1980s. She would conduct meetings every Wednesday. Along with her contemporaries Ahilyabai Rangnekar and Pramila Dandavate, she led many an andolan. Ms. Gore’s name inspired awe even among politicians of the highest rank. Of late, she had difficulty in walking. Her demise is a deep shock,” Ms. Chavan said.

Fellow activist Gopal Dukhande said: “She was part of a socialist wave, but also part of the failure of the socialist movement. She left no legacy behind.”

Ms. Gore’s body will be brought to the Keshav Gore Smarak Trust, founded in her husband’s name, at Goregaon here on Wednesday morning.

Leaders from across the political spectrum mourned Ms. Gore. “A voice that solved people’s problems through activism has been silenced today. The people have lost a visionary leader,” said Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.Governor K. Sankaranarayanan called Ms. Gore “the greatest woman social worker.”

He said: “Ms. Gore remained in the forefront of various agitations for almost four decades and secured justice for women and the urban poor. All her life, she practised the values of Gandhism to the core.”

“A brave lady”

Veteran activist N.D. Patil said, “Mrinal Gore’s death has left a terrible void within Maharashtra’s social and political sphere. As a promising young medical college student, she leapt into the freedom struggle with scarcely a thought for the consequences. Since then she had never looked back as she fought in the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement and the Goa Liberation Movement.” Describing her as an exceptionally brave lady, Mr. Patil said Ms. Gore’s name had become a byword in the State for any fight against oppression and injustice.

The Hindu, 18 July, 2012, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article3651687.ece


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