Saturday 11 April 2020

Jyotirao Phule birth anniversary: Tributes pour in for social reformer and champion of women rights

Born in 1827 to a family of florists in Pune, Jyotirao Phule experienced discrimination early on in his life. These struggles made him more determined to challenge the caste system and work for the upliftment of Dalits and women. 11 April, 2020, marks the reformer’s 193rd birth anniversary.

FIle image of Jyotiba Phule. Wikimedia Commons

Phule had to drop out of school and help out his father at his farm, but he did complete his education later.  Phule was married to Savitribai when he was only 13.

After reading Thomas Paine’s ‘Rights of Man’, he realised how important women’s education was for a society.

Phule taught his wife how to read and write, after which both of them continued to teach girls and Dalits. They strongly opposed social evils like child marriage and stigmatization of widows.

Phule propagated his reforms and his idea of the caste system in the books that he wrote – Gulamgiri and Shetkarayacha Aasud. Another propagator of Dalit emancipation movement, BR Ambedkar considered Phule to be his guru.

Many paid tribute to the social reformer on his birth anniversary on Saturday.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took to Twitter to salute Jyotirao Phule for his many contributions.

The Congress posted about Phule’s "visionary efforts" and his "tenacity to fight" against all forms of oppression.

Former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis remembered the reformer and his works through a montage of pictures incorporated in a video clip.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar also tweeted to pay tributes to the social reformer.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Bannerjee too paid homage to the Pune-born leader.

Phule’s contributions were hailed by Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot in a tweet.



from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/2RtIWnE

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