In this presentation, I examine the associational, gender and political dimensions of Kerala Pulayar Maha Sabha (KPMS), a Dalit organisation that came into existence during 1970s. KPMS was established in 1970 as an offshoot organisation of Sadhu Jana Paripalana Sangham of Ayyankali and later became a predominant caste association of the Pulayas, the demographically preponderant community among the Dalits in Kerala. Currently, it occupies a preeminent position among the Dalit organisations in Kerala, especially in the southern part of the state, through ingenious political negotiations and organisational mobilisations. In the first part of the presentation, I explain the research question, objectives and methodology of the study. In the second part, I place KPMS in the larger historical context of Kerala’s social reformism, especially the struggles of the Dalits and other backward castes and analyse its contemporary politics and negotiations. In particular, I provide details about the ethnographic fieldwork conducted in two Dalit colonies in the Alappuzha district of Kerala and explain the initial impressions on the associational, gender and political dimensions of this organisation.