Mhaisalkar, who led VSS for decades, passes away at 90

Nagpur: Manohar Mhaisalkar, president of Vidarbha Sahitya Sangh (VSS), a Marathi literary organization of Vidarbha region and one of the four affiliated organizations of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sathitya Mahamandal (confederation), passed away in Nagpur on Friday. He was 90. Mhaisalkar was associated with the VSS from the past 50 years, with about 16 of them as president of the organization.
VSS officials said Mhaisalkar was unwell since the last few days and was recently shifted to Viveka Hospital under critical care specialist Dr Nikhil Balankhe.
His heart surgeon, Dr Prashant Jagtap, told TOI that Mhaisalkar had a delicate heart which was recently fixed with a pacemaker. He died of multi-organ failure, confirmed doctors.
Mhaisalkar’s last rites will be performed at Ambazari Ghat at 10.30am on Saturday. He is survived by two daughters, Archana Dev and Manju Ghate, sons-in-law and a host of relatives.
In his early days, Mhaisalkar was into theatre and worked in some amateur plays. His forte was his organizational skills. He had no books or poems, novels or critical appreciation to his credit. His most suitable title was was ‘Literary Activist.’ He was so dedicatedly associated with VSS that his name had become synonymous with the organization. Born and brought up in Amravati, Mhaisalkar came to Nagpur as he got a teacher’s job in Somalwar High School. Later, he joined MOIL and worked there until his retirement in the 1990s.
Mhaisalkar continued with his literary and theatrical activities simultaneously with his job. He joined VSS in 1972 as a manager of Dhanwate Rang Mandir. He became secretary of VSS in 1983 and held the post till 2006, before taking charge as president.
A year later, VSS hosted a literary summit in Nagpur in 2007 which was a grand success. Since 2006, Mhaisalkar remained president for three consecutive terms. As VSS is celebrating its centenary year (2022-23), Mhaisalkar had planned various events, including the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan (All India Marathi literary summit) at Wardha very meticulously. Just a week ago, he had released a logo of the summit along with Union minister Nitin Gadkari, who described Mhaisalkar’s death as a ‘big loss for the literary world’.
State culture minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said Maharashtra has lost a learned speaker, a linguist, writer, language researcher and patron of Marathi theatre.