Jogendra Nath Mandal

Jogendranath Mandal (29 January 1904 – 5 October 1968), was one of the central and leading 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. An Indian and later Pakistani statesman who served as the first minister of law and labour in Pakistan. As a leader of the Scheduled Castes (Dalits), Jogendranath had made common cause with the Muslim League in their demand for Pakistan, hoping that the Scheduled Castes would be benefited from it and joined the first cabinet in Pakistan as the Minister of Law and Labour. He migrated to India a few years after partition[2] after submitting his resignation to Liaquat Ali Khan, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, citing the anti-Hindu bias of Pakistani administration.[3][4]

Jogendranath Mandal
Jogendra Nath Mondal Portrait
Minister of Law and Justice
In office
15 August 1947 – 8 October 1950
MonarchGeorge VI
Governor GeneralMuhammad Ali Jinnah
Khawaja Nazimuddin
Prime MinisterLiaquat Ali Khan
Minister of Labour
In office
15 August 1947 – 8 October 1950
MonarchGeorge VI
PresidentLiaquat Ali Khan
Governor GeneralMuhammad Ali Jinnah
Khawaja Nazimuddin
Minister of Commonwealth and Kashmir Affairs
In office
1 October 1949 – 8 October 1950
MonarchGeorge VI
Governor GeneralKhawaja Nazimuddin
Prime MinisterLiaquat Ali Khan
Personal details
Born(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 materCalcutta law College
OccupationPolitician

Early life

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 in 1904. He belonged in the Namasudra Hindu community. The Namasudras were considered to be outside the Hindu Caste System; thus similar to untouchables/Dalits within the Hindu ranks.

Political career in India (1937-1947)
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (front row, second from left), Jogendra Nath Mandal (front row, third from right) and other.[5]

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.[6]

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.[6]

Mandal was a follower of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, the father of the Indian Constitution.[7] 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. 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 Muslims were. He argued that the Dalits would be better off with the Muslims than with the high caste Hindus; thus, he supported ML.[6]

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.[8]

Political career in Pakistan (1947-1950)

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.[9] He was appointed as Pakistan's first Minister for Law and Labor. However, 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.

Fleeing to India (1950)

In 1950, Mandal had to flee 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.[2][3][4] He mentioned incidents related to social injustice and biased attitude towards non-Muslim minorities in his resignation letter.[10] He died on 5 October 1968 in exile in West Bengal, India.

References
  1. Heyworth-Dunne, James (1952). Pakistan: the birth of a new Muslim state. Cairo: Renaissance Bookshop. p. 79. OCLC 558585198.
  2. "Eye on Uttar Pradesh polls, BJP showcases Pakistan Dalit minister who 'came back disillusioned'". The Indian Express.
  3. "5 noted personalities who left Pakistan for India". The Express Tribune.
  4. Mandal, Jogendra Nath (8 October 1950). "Resignation letter of Jogendra Nath Mandal". Wikilivres.
  5. https://www.forwardpress.in/2016/09/hindu-casteism-led-to-the-creation-of-east-pakistan/
  6. 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.
  7. Gaikwad, Dr. Dnyanraj Kashinath (2016). Mahamanav Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (in Marathi). Riya Publication. p. 301.
  8. Ahmad, Salahuddin (2004). Bangladesh: Past and Present. New Delhi, India: APH Publishing Co. p. 77. ISBN 978-81-7648-469-5.
  9. 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.
  10. "Forgotten hero". The News. Retrieved 13 January 2018.

Bibliography

Further reading
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