Ramdas Bandu Athawale (born 25 December 1959) is an Indian politician, social activist and trade unionist from Maharashtra. He has been the president of the Republican Party of India (A) since 1999, a splinter group of the Republican Party of India, which traces its origins to the Scheduled Castes Federation led by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.
Athawale has served as the Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, since 2016. He has represented Maharashtra in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's Parliament, since 2014.
Earlier in his parliamentary career, Athawale was a member of the Lok Sabha from the Mumbai North Central constituency from 1998 to 1999, and subsequently from the Pandharpur constituency from 1999 to 2009. At the state level, he served as a Cabinet Minister in the Government of Maharashtra from 1990 to 1995 and was a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council from 1990 to 1996.
Adapted from the English Wikipedia article on Ramdas Athawale.