MeraPahad Community Of Uttarakhand Lovers

Munshi Hari Prasad Tamta’s 121st birth anniversary

   In the pantheon of eminent personalities of modern Kumaon, one name which has not received due adulation, recognition and acclaim is that of Munshi Hari Prasad Tamta, a man of many parts and, without an iota of doubt, a pioneer of Dalit reform movement in the hill region.

   The 121st Birth anniversary of Munshi Hari Prasad Tamta, a pioneer of Dalit reform movement in hill region is celebrated on the 26th August. Munshi Hari Prasad was born on 26th August, 1888. He began his crusade against caste prejudices at a tender age of 15. In 1911 a grand celebration was held on the occasion of King George V’s Coronation, where Hari Prasad was denied entry into the Pandal on account of his humble origin. This enraged him and he took a pledge to devote his whole life in the service of the down trodden.
 
    In 1905, Tamta Sudharak Sabha was established, but since this name betrayed a bias towards his own Coppersmith community, Hari Prasad renamed it as Shilpkar Sabha and this organization remained the ‘Karma Bhumi’ of this great Dalit leader who worked for the emancipation of the down trodden throughout his life. Being a graduate and a lawyer, and being financially well off, Munshi Hari Prasad not only commanded respect in the society but succeeded in holding his own amongst his peers hailing from higher echelons of the society. Even the stiff upper-lipped British bureaucrats were wont to keep him in good humour as is evident from the voluminous and continual correspondence between them.

    He had the dual distinction of serving as the Chairman of Almora Municipal Board as well as District Board, Almora. In 1933 he was awarded the honorary title of Rai Saheb. He was elected to the State Legislative Assembly Uttar Pradesh from Gonda Constituency. In 1934 he started a Newspaper aptly called SAMTA with a view to highlight the plight of his brethren. This was considered to be a big leap forward in the field of regional Journalism. Even Mahatma Gandhi was unequivocal and effusive in praising this latest entrant in the field of regional journalism, and was particularly enamoured of the name-SAMTA. For Munshi HP Tamta, SAMTA was an integral and unalienable part of his larger mission, his alter ego, and as long as he lived he was associated with it in one way or the other. It was his profound vision, his unalloyed self-confidence and resilience coupled with his missionary zeal that enabled SAMTA to evolve into a veritable mouthpiece of Dalit empowerment.

This was the time when a new agenda in Dalit Politics of Uttara Pradesh was under discussion stage in 1946-48. The awakened untouchable repeatedly asked the Congress if they could not remove the ‘social evil’ of their own creation without political power, how they expect us [the untouchables] to liberate ourselves without political power’. He remained associated with the discussions one way or the other till be breathed his last.  Ultimately the Dalits got reservation, which was provided in the Constitution of India. He left for his heavenly abode on 23 February 1960 leaving behind a void that is yet to fill. (By D.N.Barola with Dr.Anil Joshi)