Dr Ramdas Bandu Athawale (Marathi pronunciation: [aːʈʰʋəle]; born 25 December 1959) is an Indian politician, social activist and trade unionist from Maharashtra.

Following a split in the Dalit Panther movement in 1974, Athawale joined Arun Kamble and Gangadhar Gade in leading a rump in Maharashtra.

His involvement with a faction of the Republican Party of India, despite the Panther's general disdain for its leadership, eventually led to an association with the Indian National Congress (INC).

[2] Considered something of a lightweight in state politics, he has been courted at various times by various parties because of a perception that he might assist in mobilising the scattered Maharashtrian Dalit vote in their favour.

[5] He left the Nationalist Congress Party-INC alliance in 2011[citation needed] after having lost in the 2009 Lok Sabha election,[2] when he contested the reserved Shirdi constituency.

[6] This defeat was despite a subsequent report by Social Watch which ranked him as the second-best performing member of the 14th Lok Sabha, based on an analysis of various data points.

[2] He became Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on 6 July 2016, working under Thawar Chand Gehlot.

He also criticised the record of the Hindu-centric BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in dealing with issues relating to discrimination of not only Dalits but also other disadvantaged communities in India.

[15] In March 2018, echoing remarks he had made soon after becoming Minister of State in 2016[16] and reacting in particular to recent atrocities against Dalits in Saharanpur, Unnao and Allahabad, Athawale advocated inter-caste marriage as the best way to minimise such events and noted that he had married a Brahmin "to set an example".