In fact, the vows were designed to hurt Hindus.

Dr. Ambedkar had a justification for it.

He had repeatedly spoken about the need to reform Hindu society in a radical way.

Hindu society was (and is) surrounded by aggressively destructive forces. Hindus in vast regions that would soon become Pakistan were facing a definite Holocaust and extinction.

Yet, traditional Hindu leaders, who then had much more influence on Hindu society than they have now, were fighting tooth and nail the reforms that affirmed human dignity of the Scheduled Community Hindus.

In that context, Dr. Ambedkar had the right to offend Hindus. It was a Dharmic right.

But Hindu society has and had been reforming.

The Hindutva movement, particularly, has been able to take forward the fundamental reforms desired by Dr. Ambedkar in an unprecedented way.

Priests from the Scheduled Communities are today a reality. The RSS has contributed immensely to this social change. The toil of decades and the dedicated lives of seers of the Sangh like Dattopant Thengadi and activist-scholars like Ramesh Patange have brought perceivable changes.

Dr. Ambedkar knew that Hindu Dharma alone had the spiritual basis of democracy at its core, in the form of Upanishadic Mahavakyas.

Yet, Hindus did not derive the needed strength and courage to fight social stagnation from these Mahavakyas. A vast section of the Hindu population was oppressed by their own brethren who in turn were under colonial oppression of aliens.

Dr. Ambedkar realised that the Hindus oppressed by fellow Hindus in the name of Dharma, which was in fact pseudo-Dharma, needed a transformational alleviation both collective and individualistic.

A catharsis was needed for the Hindus oppressed and exploited by fellow Hindus and it was a religious transformation alone that could do that. Dr. Ambedkar understood this fundamental truth.

And at a time when people were searching for secular solutions, Dr. Ambedkar alone opted for a Dharmic resolution.

Given the scholar that he was, he would have known that Buddhism had not necessarily distinguished itself when it came to social justice.

Burakumin, the untouchable communities of Japan, were never a problem for Buddhism, including for the global spiritual fad, Zen Buddhism.

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From Hatred to Samanvaya: How Hinduism Can Render The 22 Vows Of 'Navayana Buddhism' Irrelevant - Swarajya