Ambedkar’s 22 vows: Why Babasaheb made the pledge at the centre of BJP-AAP row

While BJP denied a role in the posters, its leaders have been gunning for the AAP over a video of Gautam attending an event at New Delhi’s Ambedkar Bhavan where around 10,000 Hindus embraced Buddhism on October 5.

Gautam can be seen on stage as attendees take an oath that they would not pray to Hindu deities like Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma, Rama, Krishna, Gauri and Ganpati.

Tweeting a 39-second video of the event, Delhi BJP MP Manoj Tiwari tweeted, “Why is the AAP anti-Hindu? This AAP minister is taking a vow against Hindu religion and also making other people take it.”

इतना हिंदू विरोधी क्यों है AAP ? हिंदू धर्म के ख़िलाफ़ शपथ ले भी रहे है और दिला भी रहे है ये aap के मंत्री #HinduVirodhikejriwal pic.twitter.com/uGeph1m9q6

— Manoj Tiwari 🇮🇳 (@ManojTiwariMP) October 7, 2022

The vows, however, have nothing to do with Gautam or the AAP, and certainly nothing with skullcaps. They are part of the 22-point pledge made by Dr BR Ambedkar when he renounced Hinduism and converted to Buddhism in 1956. Since then, such events have regularly been organised, where people, mainly from oppressed castes, recite the 22 vows and embrace Buddhism.

The 22 vows

On October 15, 1956, at Deeksha Bhoomi in Nagpur, Dr Ambedkar, along with 365,000 of his Dalit followers, left the folds of Hinduism. On the occasion, he took 22 vows, which are:

1. I shall have no faith in Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh nor shall I worship them.
2. I shall have no faith in Rama and Krishna who are believed to be incarnation of God nor shall I worship them.
3. I shall have no faith in ‘Gauri’, Ganapati and other gods and goddesses of Hindus nor shall I worship them.
4. I do not believe in the incarnation of God.
5. I do not and shall not believe that Lord Buddha was the incarnation of Vishnu. I believe this to be sheer madness and false propaganda.
6. I shall not perform ‘Shraddha’ nor shall I give ‘pind-dan’.
7. I shall not act in a manner violating the principles and teachings of the Buddha.
8. I shall not allow any ceremonies to be performed by Brahmins.
9. I shall believe in the equality of man.
10. I shall endeavour to establish equality.
11. I shall follow the ‘noble eightfold path’ of the Buddha.
12. I shall follow the ‘paramitas’ prescribed by the Buddha.
13. I shall have compassion and loving kindness for all living beings and protect them.
14. I shall not steal.
15. I shall not tell lies.
16. I shall not commit carnal sins.
17. I shall not take intoxicants like liquor, drugs etc.
18. I shall endeavour to follow the noble eightfold path and practise compassion and loving kindness in every day life.
19. I renounce Hinduism which is harmful for humanity and impedes the advancement and development of humanity because it is based on inequality, and adopt Buddhism as my religion.
20. I firmly believe the Dhamma of the Buddha is the only true religion.
21. I believe that I am having a re-birth.
22. I solemnly declare and affirm that I shall hereafter lead my life according to the principles and teachings of the Buddha and his Dhamma.

Conversion versus ‘anti-Hindu-ness’

With BJP leaders choosing to suddenly take offence to the vows 66 years after they were first made, many have pointed out that the pledge does not contain derogatory words for Hindu gods and goddesses, but simply asserts that the speaker shall not worship them. If one is renouncing a religion and embracing another, it stands to reason that they will not worship deities of their former religion.

What Ambedkar did believe, and what the vows also say, is that the caste system is too deeply embedded in Hinduism to ever be uprooted, and that Dalits would never find equality and respect within the religion.

Dr Sanjay Paswan, BJP leader, former central minister and Bihar Member of Legislative Council (MLC), told The Indian Express, “Dr Ambedkar through his vows was not trying to insult Hinduism, but was trying to irritate the ‘upper caste’ Hindus. He had spent his life fighting caste discrimination and indignities, and he wanted to make them realise the sufferings Dalits experienced. Had he been ‘anti-Hindu’, he would not have accepted the Uniform Civil Code, he would not have agreed to Sanskrit being part of the 22 official languages of India.”

Why Ambedkar renounced Hinduism

Between Dr Ambedkar first talking of conversion at a public gathering and him actually converting to Buddhism lie 20 years. In 1936, addressing a gathering of Mahars in Mumbai, Babasaheb said, “I tell you all very specifically, religion is for man and not man for religion. To get human treatment, convert yourselves.”

He spent the next 20 years reading up on all religions, and eventually chose Buddhism.

On another occasion, he wrote that while he had initially thought Hinduism could be reformed from within – as Mahatma Gandhi believed – he later changed his mind. “I thought for long that we could rid the Hindu society of its evils and get the depressed classes incorporated into it on terms of equality… Experience has taught me better. I stand today absolutely convinced that for the depressed classes there can be no equality among the Hindus because on inequality rest the foundations of Hinduism,” he said.

In a speech he wrote for the 1936 Annual Conference of the Jat-Pat-Todak Mandal of Lahore, Ambedkar argued that Hindus follow caste hierarchies not because they are “inhuman or wrong headed”, but simply because it is integral to their religion.

“They observe Caste because they are deeply religious. People are not wrong in observing Caste. In my view, what is wrong is their religion, which has inculcated this notion of Caste,” he wrote.

In the same speech, he went on to add, “It is no use seeking refuge in quibbles. It is no use telling people that the Shastras do not say what they are believed to say, grammatically read or logically interpreted. What matters is how the Shastras have been understood by the people. You must take the stand that Buddha took. You must take the stand which Guru Nanak took. You must not only discard the Shastras, you must deny their authority, as did Buddha and Nanak. You must have courage to tell the Hindus, that what is wrong with them is their religion—the religion which has produced in them this notion of the sacredness of Caste.”

This speech, however, was never made, because the reception committee was not happy with the views Ambedkar expressed and the conference was cancelled.