Jogendra Nath Mandal

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Jogendranath Mandal
যোগেন্দ্রনাথ মন্ডল  (Bengali)
বরিশালের বাঘ  (Bengali)
Tiger of Barishal  (English)
Jogendra Ali Mulla
Jogendranath Mondal Portrait
Minister of Law and Justice for Pakistan
In office
15 August 1947 – 8 October 1950
MonarchGeorge VI
Governor GeneralMuhammad Ali Jinnah
Khawaja Nazimuddin
Prime MinisterLiaquat Ali Khan
Ministry of Labour, Government for Pakistan
In office
15 August 1947 – 8 October 1950
MonarchGeorge VI
PresidentLiaquat Ali Khan
Governor GeneralMuhammad Ali Jinnah
Khawaja Nazimuddin
Ministry of Commonwealth and Kashmir Affairs, Government of Pakistan
In office
1 October 1949 – 8 October 1950
MonarchGeorge VI
Governor GeneralKhawaja Nazimuddin
Prime MinisterLiaquat Ali Khan
Personal details
Born
Jogendra Nath mandal

(1904-01-29)29 January 1904
Barisal, Bengal, British India
Died5 October 1968(1968-10-05) (aged 64)
Bangaon, West Bengal, India
CitizenshipBritish Indian (1904–1947)
Pakistani (1947–1950)
Indian (1950-1968)
Political partyMuslim League
Alma materBrojomohun College,
Calcutta law College(University of Calcutta)
OccupationPolitician

Jogendranath Mandal (যোগেন্দ্রনাথ মন্ডল) (29 January 1904 – 5 October 1968), was one of the founding fathers[1] of modern state of Pakistan, and legislator serving as country's first minister of law and labour, and also was second minister of Commonwealth and Kashmir affairs. In the cabinet of Interim Government of India, He got the law portfolio before.[2] As a leader of the Scheduled Castes (Dalits), Jogendranath Mandal campaigned against the division of Bengal in 1947, believing that the divided Bengal would mean that Dalits would be at the mercy of the Muslim majority in East Bengal (Pakistan), and at the thraldom of majority caste-Hindus in West Bengal (India). In the end, he decided to maintain his base in East Pakistan, hoping that the Dalits would be benefited from it and joined the first cabinet in Pakistan as the Minister of Law and Labour.[3] He migrated to India a few years after partition[4] after submitting his resignation to Liaquat Ali Khan, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, citing the anti-Dalits bias of Pakistani administration.[5][6]

Early life[edit]

Jogendra Nath Mandal was born in the Barisal district of what was then Bengal Presidency, British India (later East Bengal and East Pakistan, presently Bangladesh) on 29 January 1904. He belonged to the Namasudra Community. Jogendra Nath Mandal was a diligent student since his nascent years, and with his resilient assiduousness to study, he passed his initial education in the First Class; then after graduating in 1929, took admission in law. But after completion of his law degree in 1934, Jogendra Nath Mandal decided not to take up law practice or a job. Instead, he commenced his vociferous retaliation against the unjust and oppressive societal structure which had hitherto humiliated his community, and decided to dedicate his whole life for the betterment of the oppresseds and society as a whole.[7]

Political career in India (1937-1947)[edit]

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (front row, second from left), Jogendra Nath Mandal (front row, third from right), and others.[8]

Mandal began his political career as an independent candidate in the Indian provincial assembly elections of 1937. He contested Bakharganj North East Rural constituency for a seat in the Bengal legislative assembly and defeated Saral Kumar Dutta, the president of the district committee of the Indian National Congress (INC) and nephew of the Swadeshi leader, Ashwini Kumar Dutta.[9][10]

Mandal was considerably influenced around this time by both Subhas Chandra Bose and Sarat Chandra Bose. When the former was expelled from the INC in 1940, Mandal became involved with the Muslim League (ML), which was the only other significant national party, and became a minister in the cabinet of the ML chief minister, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy.[9]

Mandal was a follower of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, the father of the Indian Constitution.[11] It was also around this time that Mandal and B. R. Ambedkar established the Bengal branch of the Scheduled Castes Federation, which itself aspired to political power. Mandal played a vital role for Ambedkar’s election to the Constituent Assembly from Bengal, when Ambedkar failed to secure a seat from Bombay in 1946. Mandal played a significant part in the framing of Constitution of India as well as Ambedkar consulted and sought his advice through letters on matters pertaining to the framing of the Constitution.[12][7]

While the Namasudra community was being courted by the Hindu Mahasabha, and politics in the province was dominated by the oppressed Dalit and Muslim people, Mandal saw a distinction between communal affairs and political disputes involving the INC and ML. When rioting broke out in 1946, he traveled around East Bengal to urge Dalit people not to participate in violence against Muslims, as Muslims were perceived to have been as oppressed by the upper caste Hindus as the Dalits were. He argued that the Dalits would be better off with the Muslims than with the high caste Hindus; thus, he supported ML.[9]

When the Muslim League joined the Interim Government of India in October 1946, Jinnah nominated Mandal as one of the League's five representatives. King George VI duly appointed Mandal to the body, where he took over the law portfolio.[2]

Political career in Pakistan (1947-1950)[edit]

Mandal was one of the 96 founding fathers of Pakistan, as he supported the ML. At their inaugural session, days before the 15 August 1947 partition of India, they elected him their temporary chairman.[13] When Jinnah was to be sworn in as the first Governor General of Pakistan, he is said to have asked Mandal to preside over the session. He held immense faith in Mandal for his vision and righteousness. He was appointed Pakistan's first Minister for Law and Labour. But Mandal’s status did not last long because of continuous suppression under a Muslim-majority bureaucracy. The situation further worsened after Jinnah’s death in September 1948.[14][15] When Muslim rioters with the support of the police committed atrocities against his constituents, the Dalits, he protested. That caused strife between him and the Pakistani prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan.[16]

Returning to India (1950)[edit]

In 1950, Mandal had to return to India due to an arrest warrant against him in Pakistan, submitting his resignation to Liaquat Ali Khan, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, citing inaction of the Pakistani administration against the rioters who committed atrocities against his people.[4][5][6] He mentioned incidents related to social injustice and biased attitude towards non-Muslim minorities in his resignation letter.[17] However he became political untouchable after returning to India; still he continued his work to rehabilitate Hindu refugees from Bangladesh who were fast filling up West Bengal. He breathed his last on 5 October 1968 in Bongaon, North 24 Parganas.[14][18]

Bibliography[edit]

  • Gandhi, Rajmohan (1992). Patel: A life.

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Heyworth-Dunne, James (1952). Pakistan: the birth of a new Muslim state. Cairo: Renaissance Bookshop. p. 79. OCLC 558585198.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ahmad, Salahuddin (2004). Bangladesh: Past and Present. New Delhi, India: APH Publishing Co. p. 77. ISBN 978-81-7648-469-5.
  3. ↑ Sen, Dwaipayan (30 June 2018). The Decline of the Caste Question. Cambridge University Press. p. 172. doi:10.1017/9781108278348. ISBN 978-1-108-27834-8. S2CID 158407103.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Eye on Uttar Pradesh polls, BJP showcases Pakistan Dalit minister who 'came back disillusioned'". The Indian Express.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "5 noted personalities who left Pakistan for India". The Express Tribune.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Mandal, Jogendra Nath (8 October 1950). "Resignation letter of Jogendra Nath Mandal". Wikilivres.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Apurva, Ankita (5 October 2021). "Remembering Jogendra Nath Mandal's Unwavering Fight For The Oppressed". Feminism In India. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  8. ↑ विस्वास, A. K. Biswas एके (29 September 2016). "Hindu casteism led to the creation of East Pakistan". Forward Press. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Sharma, Arnav Das (1 April 2017). "Selective Memory : The historical figure both the BJP and the BSP tried to claim during the Uttar Pradesh election". The Caravan. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  10. ↑ Sen, Dwaipayan (26 July 2018). The Decline of the Caste Question: Jogendranath Mandal and the Defeat of Dalit Politics in Bengal. Cambridge University Press. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-108-41776-1.
  11. ↑ Gaikwad, Dr. Dnyanraj Kashinath (2016). Mahamanav Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (in मराठी). Riya Publication. p. 301.
  12. ↑ Paswan, Sudarshan Ramabadran & Guru Prakash. "This book recounts the lives of Dalit leaders, many of them half-forgotten like Jogendranath Mandal". Scroll.in. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  13. ↑ Tan, Tai Yong; Kugaisya, Gyanes (2000). The Aftermath of Partition in South Asia. Routledge. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-415-17297-4. On 10 August ... the Pakistan Constituent Assembly held its inaugural session where it elected Jogendranath Mandal ... as its temporary chairman ... he came forward to sign the roll as a founder-member ... In all the Assembly had sixty-nine members.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Munsi, Sharanya (29 January 2019). "Jogendra Nath Mandal, a Bengali Dalit leader who went on to become a Pakistani minister". ThePrint. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  15. ↑ Balouch, Akhtar (4 November 2015). "Jogendra Nath Mandal: Chosen by Jinnah, banished by bureaucracy". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  16. ↑ "History Headline: Pakistan's Ambedkar, and two stories far apart". The Indian Express. 1 March 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
  17. ↑ "Forgotten hero". The News. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  18. ↑ Dam, Abhirup (14 August 2016). "Jogendranath Mandal, the Only Indian Minister in Jinnah's Cabinet". TheQuint. Retrieved 6 March 2022.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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