Samta Sainik Dal: The brainchild of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

 

All India Samta Sainik Dal is the brainchild of Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar. It played a huge role in uniting the Dalit-Bahujan people in Maharashtra as well as in India. In this article we are going to see in detail the working of Samta Sainik Dal.

Babasaheb had founded various political organizations because he thinks that political power is the key to solve all problems of Depressed class in the society. He founded “Depressed Class Federation”, “Independent Labour Party”, “Schedule caste federation”.

He also started various newspapers like “Bahishkrit Bharat”, “Samta”, “Muknayak”, “Janta”, “Prabuddha Bharat” to spread his ideology among the Dalits.

Dr. Ambedkar had founded “Bahishkrit Hitkarini Sabha” on 20^th July 1924 in Mumbai. Babasaheb Started taking meeting with the peoples from Dalit community and made them aware about their rights. This organization started a hostel for boys in Solapur on 4^th January 1925. Babasaheb wanted his community to take education as it is the only way to bring change in their life.

On 4^th August 1923 social reformer Rao Bahadur C.K Bole presented a resolution banning the untouchablity from the society. This was the revolutionary step at that time. This resolution was passed in the Bombay Legislative Council and instructions were sent to District and local bodies about opening all the public places to the Untouchables.

This resolution by the Government provided a constitutional means to fight for the right of Dalits. Babasaheb was also getting tremendous response from the peoples. But Ambedkar had to face the opposition from the upper caste Hindus in the society. They were unhappy with the growth of Ambedkar and his movement.

During the Mahad movement Babasaheb had to face constant threats and attacks from the Conservative section of the society. Babasaheb felt the need of some volunteers who can face such attacks. He then asked all the retired army soldiers from the untouchable community to get united in a army of volunteers.

Hence Samta Sainik Dal was formed on 13^th March 1927 just 5 days before the action day of “Mahad-Chavdar Tale” movement. In the initial days Samta Sainik Dal mainly consist of retired soldiers from the Indian Army. Arjun Jatekar, Gopal Achlolkar, Krishna Tambe, Subhedar Savadkar, Ayushman Wadalkar were some of the founding members of Samta Sainik Dal.

Mahad movement was basically about opening the public water tank for Untouchables. They were not allowed to take water from that tank. On the day of action Babasaheb Drank water from the tank. But his led to a massive attack from the Savarnas who found this as a insult to their dominance. They stated beating participants of the movement.

Samta Sainik Dal members requested Babasaheb to give permission to take actions on them. But according to him this can make the situation worse and hence he ordered all the participants to return to their villages.

After this event Samta Sainik Dal’s branches were opened in all the major cities and villages of Maharashtra. The need to counter the growing attacks from the castiest people was the driving force behind the formation of Samta Sainik Dal.

The program at Mahad was again reorganized on 27^th December 1927. But his time more precautions were taken and a group of 50 volunteers of Samta Sainik Dal was present in the Mahad village. Hence no one dared to do anything against the Babasaheb and the participants in the program.

Samta Sainik Dal also helped in the Kalaram temple entry movement of Nasik. They were frontline soldiers of this movement. It is said that his movement would not have been successful without the help of Samta Sainik Dal.

The Nagpur branch of Samta Sainik Dal was established on 1^st January 1930.

Samta Sainik Dal and its works

The main responsibility of the Samta Sainik Dal was to maintained discipline in any programs of Depressed Class Mission, Independent Labour Party and Schedule Caste Federation. They were the warriors of Babasaheb’s movement who were ready to fight against any threat to it.

Khaki dress and a whistle was the common attire of the Samta Sainiks. Because of them nobody tried to create any kind problems in the programs. Today we can see Samta Sainiks in Deekshabhumi on the Dhammachakra Pravatan Din with Lathi and a whistle.

Samta Sainik also played a huge role during the general elections of 1937. They encouraged people to cast their vote and it is because of them that 13 candidates of Independent Labour Party got elected.

The first ever session of Samta Sainik Dal was organized on 20^th July 1942 in Nagpur. Dr.Ambedkar was also present in that event. And the second session was conducted on 30^th January 1944 at Kanpur. At the second session Babasaheb said that “Samta Sainik Dal is the backbone of our political party. We should increase the circle of Samta Sainik Dal”.

At the second session of Samta Sainik Dal it was decided to set up a committee for the formation of Constitution of Samta Sainik Dal. Dr. Ambedkar made final changes in the draft of the constitution. This constitution contain elaborate rules to be followed by all the samta sainiks.

Samta Sainik Dal was banned on 30^th January 1948. Actually it was government’s decision to ban all the social organizations along with the RSS.

In 1957 Republican party of India was formed by the closed associates of Babasaheb. But this party didn’t stand united and got divided into several groups. Samta Sainik Dal was the part of Republican Party hence it also got divided.

As Samta Sainik Dal was divided into various fractions it was obvious that it will lose its hold over the people. In 1978 some veteran Samta Sainiks organized a two day session in Nagpur to reunite all the fractions of Samta Sainik Dal.  Many Samta Sainik from all over the India participated in this sessions. As a result of these attempts the All India Samta Sainik Dal got reunited and became one of the largest volunteering organization in the India.

All India Samta Sainik Dal provided not only physical but also intellectual and moral training to its members. The intellectual training included teachings about Budhhism and thoughts of Dr.Ambedkar. Hence Samta Sainik Dal has created a generation of youths who are not only physically but also intellectually capable to fight any kind of injustice on their society.