Mrinal Gore is no more

Mumbai’s foremost socialist and leader of Janata Dal (Secular) Mrinal Gore who had created waves during sixties, seventies and eighties by holding all-women protest rallies and raising issues concerning women and tribal communities passed away here, on Tuesday at Vasai, in Thane district. She was 84.

Famous for carrying out all-women protest rallies in late sixties against inflation, water shortage and other social issues, Gore was at Vasai visiting her daughter’s residence, when she suffered a massive cardiac arrest.

Gore, quitting medicine, entered street politics in forties, joining Rashtriya Seva Dal. Influenced by socialist ideals, she started Socialist Party, and began taking up issues concerning the marginalised strata of society. Along with her husband Keshav Gore she also fought for Goa Liberation and Samyukta Maharashtra Movement.

The couple in sixties made Goregaon the key hub of their social activism. In 1961, she won civic election in Mumbai and after a bitter and protracted struggle she managed to get a proper drinking water supply in the city earning a nickname, “Paniwali Bai.”