Ashok Dhawale

Ashok Dhawale entered activism through the Students Federation of India (SFI) during his Masters in Political Science from Bombay University.[2] He later become the State Secretary of SFI in Maharashtra and the All India Vice President of the organisation from 1981 to 1989. After student life, Dhawale became active in the youth movement, and became the State Secretary, State President, and the All India Vice President of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) from 1989 to 1995.

From 1993 onwards, Ashok Dhawale began working with All India Kisan Sabha. After the demise of AIKS leader Godavari Parulekar, Dhawale took the lead in re-building the peasant organisation in Maharashtra. He became the Maharashtra State Secretary of the AIKS from 2001 to 2009. He was elected as the President of AIKS at its 34th national conference in Hisar, Haryana held in 2017. He therefore became the third leader from Maharashtra to head AIKS after late Nana Patil and late Godavari Parulekar.

He has led struggles against the agrarian crisis in India.[3] He demanded loan waivers and assistance for farmers in the form of minimum support price to help the agricultural sector.[4] In March 2018, he was prominent among those who led the 200 km-long, 50,000 farmers massive Kisan Long March, Maharashtra from Nashik to Mumbai under the banner of AIKS.[5][6][7] The farmers walked for seven days from Nashik to Mumbai demanding the implementation of the MS Swaminathan Commission report to reimburse farmers for their cost of production plus another 50 per cent.[8] They also demanded pension for farmers and farm labourers above 60 years of age.[8] He is one of the leaders of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha that is leading the farmers' struggle against agro bills in 2021.[9]

Ashok Dhawale joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 1978 and is a member of the CPI(M) central committee since 1998. From 2005 to 2015, he was the State Secretary of the CPI(M) in Maharashtra.