Sambhaji Brigade is a bahujan organization in the state of Maharashtra, India. The organization is named after Sambhaji, son of the first Maratha king Shivaji.
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This controversial organization was founded by Purushottam Khedekar, also prominent in the Maratha Seva Sangh, a related organisation. Khedekar, an executive engineer in the state Public Works Department, founded the MSS in 1990 'to work for upliftment of the Maratha community'. Soon, many unemployed youths from the rural areas joined the organization.
The outfit distances itself from the Hindutva organisations and considers itself as the ideological descendant of the Maratha Empire. The outfit's members consists of mostly Maratha youths from the rural interiors of Maharashtra. The organisation's ideology is directed by jealousy for Marathi Brahmins in general. The parent organisation MSS's founder Khedekar is alleged to have close ties with many Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders, although the NCP denies it. Although politically inactive, the organization claims to be a social forum for Maratha revival.The ideology is directing towards racism and it is the greatest threat for the constitution of India.
The Sambhaji Brigade attacked and vandalised Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute of Maharashtra in January 2004, claiming that the Institute had assisted in defaming Shivaji. Later the Sambhaji Brigade issued statements reflecting a stand that criticized the control that Brahmins have over institutions such as Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. The group claims that Brahmin historians have overemphasized the roles of people such as Ramdas Swami and Dadoji Konddev (who were Brahmins) on the life of Shivaji.
This group attacked some portions of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, to protest against the slanderous remarks about Maratha Empire founder Shivaji by American academic James Laine. Many invaluable books and historical documents were destroyed in this attack. Photographs of the institute in the newspapers after this attack confirmed the damage.
In 2006, the organisation's activists ransacked the office of Marathi daily Loksatta, protesting that the newspaper editor judiciously published article criticising government's decision to build memorial of Shivaji Maharaj. The claim was bolstered when similar project was announced by government to build memorial of V.D.Savarkar and no protest was registered by the said newspaper.
The outfit distances itself from the Vedic organisations which according to them divides Indians right from the birth . The organization mainly has been the sole reason for creating unrest among the people due to its separatist philosophies but aims on unifying Indian people.An Organization which claims to uncover true history of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and invalidating the image of Shivaji Maharaj as hard liner Hindu Warrior.The organization claims for progress of all suppressed factions of India including Muslims.