Renowned writer and Dalit thinker KM Salim Kumar passes away

KOCHI: Renowned Dalit thinker, writer and cultural activist KM Salim Kumar passed away. He was 76. Salim Kumar passed away in a private hospital in Kochi while undergoing treatment. A former public servant, Salim also boasts of a history of spending 17 months in jail during the Emergency in 1975.

Salim Kumar was born on March 10, 1949, in Velliyamattom panchayat, Thodupuzha taluk, Idukki, to Kunnathu Manikan and Kotha. Kolumban Puthanpurakkal was his adoptive father. He was educated at Naliyani Tribal LP School, Poochapra; Arakkulam UP School, Moolamattom Government High School, and Ernakulam Maharaja's College.

In 1969, while pursuing his degree course in Ernakulam, Salim chanced upon writings adulating Naxals and slowly harboured feelings for the Naxalite movement. He was one of the organisers of the CRC and CPI(ML) movement for two decades. Under the auspices of the Underprivileged Renaissance Front, he focused on Dalit organisation activities by burning the Manusmriti in Vaikom in 1989. K. M. Salim Kumar was the state convener of the Underprivileged Renaissance Front, the state convener of the Dalit Aikya Samiti, and the state secretary of the Kerala Dalit Mahasabha.