Ailing Marathi poet Namdeo Dhasal shifted to ICU

Renowned poet and firebrand Marathi writer Namdeo Dhasal, who is battling colorectal cancer, on Sunday complained of breathlessness and was shifted to the ICU of the Bombay Hospital on Sunday. Dhasal has been undergoing treatment at the Bombay Hospital for the past one and half months. Dhasal was one of the founders of the Dalit Panther movement. He is also a pioneer of the Dalit literature movement. Padmashri awardee Dhasal has a medical history of myasthenia gravis.

He has been conferred with three state awards for his five collections of poems. In 2004, he won the prestigious Sahitya Akadami Award. “His condition is stable. After he complained of breathlessness, doctors moved him to the ICU as a precautionary measure,” said Mallika Amar Sheikh, Dhasal’s wife.