Naresh Banga (1956-2026)
A Life of Defiance and Discovery
From Rebellion to Buddhist Awakening
An Obituary by Sat Pal Muman-Dr Ambedkar International Mission, London
Early Life
Naresh Banga passed away in the early hours
of Wednesday, 24th June 2026, at the age of seventy. He leaves behind a legacy
that defies easy categorisation—a man who was at once a rebel and a seeker, a
poet and a pragmatist, an Ambedkarite to some and a Buddhist to all who truly
knew him.
Naresh Banga was born on 1 June 1956 in India and arrived in England at
the age of ten in 1967, following his father, Sundar Lal, who had come to
England in 1962. At that tender age, Naresh was not particularly knowledgeable
about the world around him, and his early years in England were marked by
confusion and a quiet curiosity he was afraid to express.
When he first arrived in England, the house he went to had a photograph
of Babasaheb Dr Ambedkar belonging to Mr Magi Ram at Beaconsfield Road,
Southall. After some time, young Naresh asked whose photo it was. He was told
it was Dr Ambedkar and that Dr Ambedkar was equal to the six great men in the
world. Naresh took this literally, believing it meant Dr Ambedkar was equal to
six men, and wondered how this could be possible. Being poorly educated, he
could not grasp the significance and was afraid to ask questions, fearing
others would laugh at him. He recalls that there are two types of “nalayak”—those
who simply do not understand—and those who deliberately choose not to
understand.
His parents grew frustrated with him. As he
grew older, he learned that his father had met Dr Ambedkar in Delhi. This
revelation sparked arguments between father and son, as Naresh believed meeting
Dr Ambedkar was a matter of great honour. Many who met Dr Ambedkar would speak
proudly of their encounters, and Naresh felt his father should have been on the
front line of advocacy. Around the age of eighteen, these conversations began,
and Naresh grew increasingly angry that his father was not very interested
despite having met such a great figure.
His father knew many other people from
Delhi, including Magi Ram and Faqir Singh Virdee, but they would only say they
had seen Dr Ambedkar and nothing more. When Naresh once questioned why Dr
Ambedkar embraced Buddhism, someone replied that it was because it was the
easiest way to meet God—a claim Naresh found laughable, knowing that Dr
Ambedkar never believed in such things. When he questioned further, he was
dismissed with the typical Indian attitude: “I wasn’t born yesterday; how can
you teach us anything?"
Discovering Dr Ambedkar and Buddhism
It wasn't until he was around twenty-five
or twenty-six that Naresh truly began to discover Babasaheb. He read "Federation
vs Freedom" but did not understand it. He then turned to Punjabi
translations by LR Balley, Bhagwan Dass, and Surendra Ajnat, which helped him
gain some knowledge. The process took a long time, but his interest was genuine,
and he persevered.
His introduction to Buddhism came through
an unexpected route: Zen Buddhism. While at the library, he found a book on Zen
Buddhism and initially confused it with Jainism. He was struck by a story about
a man who went to a Zen Master and claimed God takes care of him. When he asked
the Zen Master to explain the easiest way to God, the Master held the man's
head underwater. When the man gasped for air, the Master explained that when he
needed God more than oxygen, then he would show him God. This story fascinated
Naresh, and he began reading more about Zen Buddhism, finding many such
interesting stories.
Much later, he read "Buddha and his
Dhamma," by Dr Ambedkar, though he found it challenging, requiring a handy
dictionary to understand. He read it five or six times and discovered something
new each time. When he asked his father about it, he was told to ask someone
else. The beauty of "Buddha and his Dhamma," Naresh believed, is that
you can open any page and learn something new. He once told Dr Shrikant Borkar,
his associate, who holds a PhD in Anthropology, that you could do a PhD on just
one sentence from the book. For example, the concept that we were not created
by God but evolved, which traces back to Darwin's theory.
He also read "Ranade, Gandhi and Jinnah" by Dr Ambedkar, which
was equally demanding, with an unending stream of references. Despite the
challenging writing style, he never gave up. Unlike many other texts,
"Buddha and his Dhamma" has no references—that work, according to
Naresh, was done by Bhadant Dr Anand Kausalyan in the Hindi translation. Naresh
considered Dr Ambedkar the greatest teacher and often wondered whether people
would be able to understand his teachings.
Naresh's formal introduction to the Ambedkarite community came through
the Dr Ambedkar Buddhist Association, formed in Southall in 1976 at Mansell Road, Greenford, Middlesex. Harbans Lal Virdee, Mr Bakshi Birdi,
Mr Prabh Dyal, Mr Madan Saroye, Mr Kishore Saroye, Mr Chaman Lal Virdee, Mr
Ramesh Klair, Mr Bakshi Dhanda, and Mr Mohinder Birdi were among the early
founders.
In 1981, Bhaiya Saheb, Dr Ambedkar’s son Yashwant Rao, visited England
and stayed at Naresh’s family home at 4 Trinity Road, Southall. Naresh recalls
that Bhaiya Saheb was drinking heavily during his stay.
His father did not participate in the Dr Ambedkar
Buddhist Association, as, according to Naresh’s young mind, he was not
interested in Buddhism. Naresh's Dhamma guru was Venerable Dr Saddhatissa, who
gave him the Deeksha and issued a card that Naresh kept in his pocket for the
rest of his life. Dr Saddhatissa was a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk present at the Historic Deeksha
ceremony when Dr Ambedkar embraced Buddhism in Nagpur, India, on 14th
October 1956.
Naresh's path to Buddhism was influenced by
several key figures. Mr Jagdish Leal, K.C. Leal's son, was instrumental in
inspiring and supporting him. In 1973, when Naresh was seventeen, he took
Deeksha on May 13th, before the larger Deeksha ceremony in West Bromwich on June
3rd, 1973. He became a Buddhist before becoming an Ambedkarite, a
distinction he maintained. Mr K C Leal, his father's cousin, wrote a book about the pioneers of the
Buddhist movement in the UK, edited by Nanak Chand Rattu, Dr Ambedkar's private
secretary and published by the Dr Ambedkar Memorial Committee GB.
Embracing Buddhism
His entire family took Deeksha: Mr Sundar
Lal (father), Mrs Chanan Kaur (mother), Mr Yashpal Banga (elder brother), Miss
Urmilla Banga( younger sister), Miss Sangeeta Banga ( younger sister) Shekhar
Banga (younger brother), also known as Shekhar Bodhkar, was living in India at
the time. When Jagdish came to live in Southall, he made a strong impression on
the entire family, and Naresh believes that without Jagdish, he would not have
embraced Buddhism.
In 1977, Naresh held the first Buddhist wedding in his family and among
relatives. There were no rituals, as he had asked for an explanation about
rituals but received none. There was no dowry either. He was an adamant young
man who never followed orders, refused to study in the conventional way or go
to university, and defied his parents.
As a young man, Naresh was interested in
communism because communists did not believe in God. He never believed in God
and never went to any religious place of worship. His rebellious nature was
evident from an early age. In school, during Christian assemblies, he used to
walk out. The headmaster wrote a letter to his father, and when asked what
difference it made whether he attended, he insisted it made a difference to
him.
Rebel Truant
His religious teacher at school once fell
ill, and when the headmaster took over the class, Naresh declared he was not
interested and was told to stand outside. Jagdish came to his rescue, and the
school demanded a letter from his parents to exclude him from religious
instruction. Naresh forged his father's signature and stopped going to
assemblies, instead playing truant. Once, when a lady religious teacher asked
who Jesus was, Naresh replied bluntly, "Jesus was a ******." The
teacher corrected him, saying he was the son of God, but Naresh insisted he
didn't believe in God. He was expelled from school at around sixteen or
seventeen. He again contacted Jagdish, approached the school, and agreed not to
disrupt class, though he continued to disagree with Christians, Sikhs, Hindus,
and Muslims and anyone who believed in God in school.
The school regularly wrote to his parents
about truancy, and he forged his father's signature in reply. Once, he didn't
attend school for two weeks, and Mr Mukherjee, a Bengali teacher, came to their
house. When Naresh arrived home at the same time, the teacher slapped him, but
Naresh insisted he didn't want to study. Strangely, he became interested in
poetry despite being dull in most subjects.
Once, when he was sick and requested a letter from his father, a mismatch
in his forged signature was caught, and he came clean about his deceptions. He
was told to attend school regardless of whether he failed. He felt he was
forced into studying Radio and TV engineering, which he didn't understand at
all. Under pressure to study, he took his books into the garden and burned
them. Again, Jagdish came to his rescue, telling his parents that Naresh was
not interested in studying and that he had begun looking for a job.
Naresh studied Koans in Zen Buddhism very
early on, which may have influenced his rebelliousness. He connected with
communists because of their atheism. After embracing Buddhism, he became
interested in Vedas and Puranas, finding the Shiv Purana sexually explicit and
seeing no spirituality in them. He read "Critique of Vedas" by
Surendra Ajnat in the late 1980s, which greatly influenced him, along with "Hinduism—Dharam
ya Klunk" (meaning Hinduism—religion or disgrace), by L.R. Balley, in
three volumes.
He spent three years at Ambedkar Centre,
Featherstone Road, Southall, helping with renovation after the building was
damaged by fire. Mr Gautam Chakraborty had promised to acknowledge his work,
but Naresh insisted he was doing it because he wanted to, not for recognition. Naresh
oversaw the library and was available 24 hours a day. The only acknowledgement
he received was none, and he left the group around 1988 due to a lack of
transparency.
Poet, Artist and Activist
His involvement in the film industry began through Mr Firdaus Ali, an
Asian Arts Director and poet, who had the power to make anyone famous. If a
film or drama needed a dancer, Firdaus Ali had the CVs of many artists. Naresh
and Firdaus Ali became good friends.
Naresh’s artistic sensibility extended to poetry. As a young man, he
attended poetry symposia in Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu. He taught himself Urdu.
He wrote poems about Dr Ambedkar, though he was never fully satisfied with
them. At poetry symposia, he recited Urdu poetry, moving in circles that
included figures such as Gulzar, whom he had met at Firdaus Ali's house.
He met Jabbar Patel through Firdaus Ali when Jabbar Patel came to make a
film about Dr Ambedkar. Naresh studied the script all night, taking notes and
providing feedback. He objected to several points, including a scene in which
advice was attributed to Sardar Patel when Dr Ambedkar went to the USA, which
was incorrect. Another scene showed Ramabai, Dr Ambedkar’s wife, going before
the gods for aarti, which Naresh opposed and was deleted. Regarding
Deeksha Day, he requested that the twenty-two vows Dr Ambedkar gave at the mass
Buddhist conversion in Nagpur be included, but Jabbar Patel explained that the
film was financed by the Indian Government and that it wouldn't go down well,
though he agreed to include two or three vows.
Naresh also became involved in other films,
including Dev Anand's "The Gangster" and "Bandit Queen." He
suggested displaying a photo of Dr Ambedkar in Indian films, which have
appeared in several, though he does not take credit for it. While the Gandhi
film was being made, he questioned why Dr Ambedkar was excluded, but Richard
Attenborough remained quiet and made no comments.
Asserting His Intellectual Agency
Once, he was invited to India House, London, for an annual Ambedkar
Jayanti event organised by the Federation of Ambedkarite and Buddhist
Organisations (FABO). His Excellency, L M Singhvi, the High Commissioner of
India, gave a talk and said that Buddha was the 9th/10th incarnation of Vishnu.
Naresh asked why FABO was not objecting to Singhvi's statement?
Later, Naresh was introduced by Mr S L
Ginda to India's High Commissioner, L M Singhvi, as an "Ambedkarite."
Naresh corrected him: "I am not an Ambedkarite; I am a Buddhist."
When Singhvi asked what the difference was, Naresh replied, "When you have
a PhD, you don't say I am a BA or an MA."
Beyond his intellectual pursuits, Naresh
was an accomplished artist. In his living room, he personally hand-painted an
image of the Buddha on the wall—a quiet, enduring testament to his faith and
creative spirit. The painting was not merely decorative but devotional, a daily
reminder of the path he had chosen.
Dedication, Moral Courage and Generosity
Naresh will be remembered for his good
humour, dedication, moral courage, generosity and unwavering commitment to the
Ambedkarite and Buddhist movement.
He was also a close confidant of Mr Surinder Jhalli, former president of
the Dr Ambedkar Memorial Committee GB. The two were in regular contact, often
speaking for hours on the phone. In his final will, Naresh left his house in
Southall as dana to the Dr Ambedkar Memorial Committee GB. Naresh was
honoured by the Committee at a public event held on 14th April 2024.
Journey’s End
Naresh's journey from a rebellious,
confused young man to a committed Buddhist and advocate for Dr Ambedkar's
teachings is marked by intellectual curiosity, personal struggle, and a
determination to understand the world on his own terms. His story reflects the
broader experience of many Indian immigrants in the UK who found in Buddhism a
path to dignity and self-respect, and in Dr Ambedkar's teachings a framework
for understanding their place in the world.
Naresh Banga is survived by his wife, Mohinder, his family, and
the countless lives he touched through his quiet activism, his art, and his
unwavering commitment to the truth as he understood it.
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