Balkrishna Ramchandra Wasnik (12 August 1929 – 10 September 2015) was an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

politician and member of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

Political career

In 1957, at the age of 28 he was elected in the

Bhandara lok sabha constituency Bhandara Lok Sabha constituency was a former Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituency in Maharashtra state in western India. With the boundary delimitation, delimitation of the parliamentary constituencies in 2008, based on the recommendations of t ...

. He was re-elected in 1962. Afterwards from

Buldhana Buldhana is the district headquarters and a Municipal Council in the Buldhana District of Amravati division in the Indian State of Maharashtra. Climate Demographics As of the 2011 India census, Buldhana had a population of 67,431. Males con ...

in (1980). He was a staunch supporter of separate

Vidarbha Vidarbha (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, �id̪əɾbʱə is a geographical region in the east of the Indian state of Maharashtra and a Proposed states and union territories of India#Maharashtra, proposed state of central India, comprising th ...

. In 1967, he became President of the Mahavidarbha Rajya Sangharsh Samiti and mobilized the agitation to press for this demand.

Family

He belongs to an

Ambedkarite Ambedkarism is called as the teaching, ideology or philosophy of B.R. Ambedkar, an Indian econonist, polymath, barrister, social reformer, human-rights advocate, and the architect of Indian Constitution. Ambedkarism includes the principles of Nava ...

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

family. He hails from

Mahar Mahar, meaning "original inhabitants of Maharashtra" (in various languages), is an Indian caste found largely in the state of Maharashtra and neighbouring areas. Most of the Mahar community followed B. R. Ambedkar in converting to Buddhism in ...

community and has a son,

Mukul Wasnik Mukul Balkrishna Wasnik (born 27 September 1959) is an Indian Politician. He was the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment in Government of India. He represented the Ramtek constituency of Maharashtra from 2009 to 2014. He is a member of ...

two daughters, Dipti Wasnik Saxena and Seema Wasnik.

Death

He died on 10 September 2015 in

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...

, aged 86.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wasnik, Balkrishna Ramchandra 1929 births 2015 deaths Indian National Congress politicians Indian Buddhists 20th-century Buddhists 21st-century Buddhists Marathi politicians India MPs 1957–1962 India MPs 1962–1967