From untouchability to disgrace

The politics of Dalits in India is a vast and deeply layered subject, shaped by centuries of social exclusion, religious sanction and structural inequality. Across the years, the burden of caste hierarchies has driven many among the marginalised to seek dignity through conversion, into Buddhism, Christianity during the colonial period, and, in certain contexts, Islam. These were not merely spiritual transitions but acts of social escape from entrenched humiliation. Yet the political representation of these communities has remained uneven and, at times, tragically unfulfilled. It is also a history marked by missed political openings. In the turbulent years leading up to Partition, the failure of the Muslim League to meaningfully engage and draw in these historically oppressed groups reflected a short-sightedness that deprived it of a potentially transformative social alliance in its contest with the Congress.

It is in this backdrop that the life of Jogendra Nath Mandal acquires a particular poignancy.

Na khuda hi mila, na visal-e-sanam,

Na idhar ke rahe, na udhar ke rahe

The immortal verse by Amir Meenai seems almost written for Mandal's fate. It captures, with haunting precision, the arc of a man who stood at a defining moment in history and chose a path few others from his community dared to take.

A leader of the Scheduled Castes and a lawyer of considerable standing, Mandal saw in the idea of Pakistan an opportunity to escape the rigid hierarchies of caste that, in his view, a united India might struggle to dismantle. His alignment with Muhammad Ali Jinnah was both political and aspirational. Jinnah, for his part, sought to project a state where religion would not determine citizenship, and in Mandal he found a symbol of that promise. It was in this spirit that Mandal was made Pakistan's first Law Minister, an appointment that carried both symbolic weight and genuine responsibility.

In the early days of August 1947, the promise of a new beginning lent a certain optimism to the enterprise. Mandal presided over the inaugural session of Pakistan's Constituent Assembly, embodying, at least momentarily, the vision of an inclusive state. Yet, this fragile equilibrium was closely tied to Jinnah's personal authority. His death in September 1948 altered the balance in ways that Mandal could neither control nor reverse.

The passage of the Objectives Resolution in 1949 marked a decisive shift. For Mandal, it signalled a movement away from the earlier assurances of civic equality toward a framework in which religion assumed a more central role. Over time, he found himself increasingly marginalised within the corridors of power. Sections of the bureaucracy viewed him with suspicion, and his influence waned. His uneasy equation with figures such as Chaudhri Muhammad Ali, often described as distant and strained, reflected a broader discomfort with his position in the new state.

What followed was a gradual but unmistakable erosion of both authority and hope. Reports of communal violence, particularly in East Bengal, and allegations of coercion and discrimination against minorities weighed heavily on him. The ideals that had drawn him to Pakistan began to appear increasingly distant from the realities on the ground.

By 1950, disillusionment had set in. In a detailed and anguished resignation addressed to Liaquat Ali Khan, Mandal laid out his grievances. He spoke of the divergence from earlier assurances, of the suffering of vulnerable communities, and of a growing sense that the space for minorities was narrowing. Soon after, he left for India, effectively ending his association with the state he had helped to build.

His return, however, offered little solace. In India, he was viewed with suspicion, even as his earlier constituency had moved on. The man who had once stood at the intersection of two political destinies found himself distanced from both. He spent his remaining years in relative obscurity, passing away in 1968.

Mandal's life remains a sobering reminder of the limits of political idealism when confronted with shifting realities. It is a story not only of personal miscalculation, but also of a historical moment where competing visions of nationhood left little room for those who stood in between.