It is well known that BR Ambedkar turned to Buddhism for the upliftment of Dalits. But what is not widely understood is that he changed Buddhism in fundamental ways — away from its spiritual focus and towards a social-political focus. To achieve this, he did away with karma theory and meditation practice, both of which are integral to the teachings of Buddha. This enabled him to differentiate it from Hinduism. He wanted to reject Hinduism because of Mohandas Gandhi’s position on caste. But his rejection of Christianity and Islam was even more emphatic. Ambedkar was uncompromising in insisting that Indians should not adopt either Christianity or Islam because these religions were alien to the ethos and core values of Indians. He feared that they would create conflicts and cause divisions among Indians. Ambedkar also explicitly rejected communism. Another remarkable quality in his uncompromising patriotism was that he left the US and UK after his higher education there and returned to India to pursue his nation-building ambitions. He did not like the idea of championing his reformist ideas from American or British soil or in alignment with any of their institutions. Unfortunately, Ambedkar didn’t live long enough to fully implement his modified version of Buddhism and be able to demonstrate that this new religion would succeed in uplifting his followers. After his death, his followers lacked the creativity and leadership to advance his pioneering ideas further. This vacuum of creative leadership has been filled by Harvard University’s poster boy, Suraj Yengde, who has proclaimed himself as Ambedkar’s successor. Yengde assumes that it is his destiny to step into Ambedkar’s shoes and complete the social transformation Ambedkar had started. However, using his Harvard perch and alliance with Black Americans and the Woke movement, Yengde has positioned himself in ways that betray Ambedkar’s patriotism. Without support from the Harvard power nexus, he could not have become so prominent considering that he openly propagates falsehoods and frequently contradicts himself without remorse or inhibition. Yengde is on a warpath with Hinduism, and more broadly with Indian social and cultural values, in ways that compromise India’s integrity and sovereignty. As our recent book Snakes in the Ganga has documented, Yengde calls Shankaracharya, a legendary intellectual leader of Hinduism, an “ugly head dumpster”; and he accuses him of “killing many monks”. He says that there was an “onslaught and attacks to eliminate Buddha from this land”. According to him, Hindus desecrated Buddhist temples and viharas, and “the monks were killed en masse by the invading kingdoms of the so-called invading Brahminic order”. Without citing any shred of evidence, Yengde has said: “When the Buddha came on to the consciousness of India, he became the biggest threat to the Vedic caste system because Buddha just crumbled the house of cards of caste system. Because Buddha offered that many tribes, which were eventually declared untouchables, become part of Dhamma and because they were part of dhamma, there was a repeated assassination of the people who were identifying themselves in the pathway of dhamma. Buddha himself was subjected to several attacks, physical, spiritual.” Yengde’s vitriolic hatred for Brahmins leads him to want to dismantle Hinduism. What he ignores is that Indian traditions, Hindu and Buddhist alike, have thrived on open and honest debates among experts. There was never any form of what is today being practiced as cancel culture. Indians of all persuasions have prided themselves by engaging in logical arguments instead of being fixated on dogma or political rivalry. The cancel culture championed at Harvard today is antithetical to the path of the Buddha and inconsistent with Ambedkar’s ideology. Yengde’s alignment with the new American camp of Wokeism makes him an ally of global Islam and evangelical Christianity both of which Ambedkar vehemently opposed. His membership in Harvard’s elitism, and his participation in the Breaking India nexus in the United States, should concern the genuine Buddhists in India. They should pause before letting him infiltrate further and hijack one of India’s great spiritual traditions and gifts to the world. The author is a researcher, writer, speaker and public intellectual on current affairs as they relate to civilisations, cross-cultural encounters, religion and science. His latest book is ‘Snakes in the Ganga’. Views expressed are personal. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
New Ambedkarites’ alignment with the new American camp of Wokeism makes them an ally of global Islam and evangelical Christianity — both of which BR Ambedkar vehemently opposed
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Written by Rajiv Malhotra
Rajiv Malhotra is the author of Being Different, and a regular blogger on The Huffington Post. Twitter handle: @RajivMessage see more