This is Jogendra Nath Mandal, Pakistan’s first Law Minister & one of the leading founding persons of Pakistan. A Dalit.

Jogendra Nath Mandal was an eminent dalit lawyer in the 1930s & 40s in India.

His political journey started as an independent candidate during the 1937 provincial assembly elections where he won from  the Bakharganj North East Rural constituency in the Bengal legislative assembly.

He had often argued that Dalits would be better off with Muslims than with upper caste Hindus. He joined the Muslim League and supported the creation of Pakistan. He was possibly the most prominent non-Muslim in the Muslim League.

Mandal vehemently opposed the partition of Bengal in 1947. His rationale being that all of Bengal should come to Pakistan since a divided Bengal would subject the Dalits of West Bengal to the dominance of the upper caste Hindus there.

He Was  Pakistan’s First Law Minister in 1948, but In 1950 he ended up leaving Pakistan & coming back to India due to both himself being at the receiving end of hate & discrimination because he was Hindu, as well as the persecution and takeover of properties of Hindus in general & Dalits in particular who had stayed back in Pakistan, and the Pakistani state’s unwillingness to act against it.

He was also targeted by the largely Muslim bureaucracy and ended up with an arrest warrant being issued against him.

He tendered his resignation to the then PM Liaquat Ali Khan with an utter sense of frustration, and expatriated to India, as a refugee.

He came back to India, lived for nearly 2 decades as a refugee, was not active in politics and spent time in social service secluded & in deep regret of his decision.

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