Meet R S Gavai, father of CJI-designate B R Gavai, the Ambedkarite leader who was Lok Sabha MP and Governor of Kerala and Bihar

“It is solely due to Dr B R Ambedkar’s efforts that someone like me, who studied in a semi-slum area at a municipal school, could attain this position,” he said last year in a speech that he ended with the slogan “Jai Bhim”.

Justice Gavai’s family has also been associated with the Congress party. He has acknowledged this openly, and in July 2023, he offered to recuse from a case involving Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

What is Justice Gavai’s family’s association with the Congress?

“There is some difficulty on my part,” Justice Gavai said as he offered to withdraw from hearing Rahul Gandhi’s challenge to a decision by the Gujarat High Court to not stay his conviction in a case of criminal defamation.

“My father was associated… Though he was not a Congress member, but he was associated with Congress and very closely…,” Justice Gavai said. “He was associated with Congress for more than 40 years. He had been a Member of Parliament, Member of Legislature, with support of the Congress and… And my brother is still in politics and is associated with Congress.”

“So in this background”, he told the parties in the case, “you have to take a call whether I should take up the matter or not.”

And who was Ramkrishna Gavai, the father of Justice Gavai?

Justice Gavai is the son of Ramkrishna Suryabhan Gavai (1929-2015), who was a close associate of Babasaheb Ambedkar, and chairman of the Deekshabhoomi Smarak Samiti in Nagpur.

The senior Gavai, “Dadasaheb” to his followers and admirers, was active in Maharashtra politics from 1964 to 1998, and founded the Ambedkarite outfit, the Republican Party of India (Gavai).

In 1998, Gavai Sr was elected to Lok Sabha from Amravati constituency as a candidate of the RPI. He subsequently served as Governor of Bihar, Sikkim, and Kerala between 2006 and 2011, when the Congress-led UPA was in power at the Centre.

In 2009, as Governor of Kerala, Gavai Sr went against the recommendation of the state cabinet led by then Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan and permitted the Central Bureau of Investigation to initiate prosecution proceedings against the current Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, in the SNC-Lavalin case, which was related to alleged corruption in a contract to modernise hydropower infrastructure in the state.

The Governor’s decision was backed by the Congress-led central government in court. The Congress-led UDF was then in opposition in Kerala.

And who is the brother that Justice Gavai referred to?

Justice Gavai’s brother is Dr Rajendra Gavai who, in 2009, joined hands briefly with Ramdas Athawale, the president of the Republican Party of India (A) as an effort was made to bring together the various factions of the original RPI.

However, differences between the leaders resulted in a split, and the Gavai-led faction had a pre-poll alliance with the Congress, while the Athawale-led group aligned with the BJP.

The RPI(A) is part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), and Athawale is now the Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment.

This is a revised and updated version of an explainer that was first published on July 21, 2023.