Jogendra Nath Mandal
Time: 29 January 1904 – 5 October 1968
born in the Barisal district within the erstwhile Bengal Presidency of British India (later known as East Bengal, East Pakistan, and presently Bangladesh)
Born in the untouchable Namasudra Community.
Portfolio in Pakistan -
- Minister of Law and Labour, as well as the subsequent
- Minister of Commonwealth and Kashmir Affairs.
Mandal vehemently opposed the partition of Bengal in 1947
completion of his law degree in 1934.
embarked upon his political journey as an independent candidate during the 1937 Indian provincial assembly elections. He contested the Bakharganj North East Rural constituency in the Bengal legislative assembly, securing victory over Saral Kumar Dutta, the president of the district committee of the Indian National Congress (INC) and nephew of Swadeshi leader Ashwini Kumar Dutta
Following Subhas Chandra Bose's expulsion from the INC in 1940, Mandal aligned himself with the Muslim League (ML), the only other prominent national party at the time.
he assumed a ministerial role in the cabinet of ML chief minister Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy
Mandal collaborated with Ambedkar in establishing the Bengal branch of the All India Scheduled Castes Federation
Mandal played a pivotal role in securing Ambedkar's election to the Constituent Assembly from Bengal in 1946 when Ambedkar faced challenges in securing a seat from Bombay.
In 1946, senior Congress leaders worked closely to not let Ambedkar win in the Bombay provincial assembly election. On Mandal’s insistence, Ambedkar contested from the Bengal province. Due to Mandal’s close association with the Muslim League and active participation of Dalits in the region, Ambedkar was elected to the Constituent Assembly
Mandal significantly contributed to the framing of the Constitution of India, with Ambedkar seeking his counsel through correspondence
During the Great Calcutta Killing of August 1946, he traversed East Bengal, advocating for non-participation of Dalit people in violence against Muslims.
Interim Government of India in October 1946, Jinnah nominated Mandal as one of the League's five representatives.
as Muhammad Ali Jinnah prepared to assume the role of the first Governor General of Pakistan, he entrusted Mandal with the responsibility of presiding over the session (temporary chairman of Pakistan’s Constituent Assembly), underscoring his profound confidence in Mandal's foresight and moral rectitude
Jogendranath Mandal emerged as one of the 96 founding figures of Pakistan, aligning himself with the Muslim League (ML)
In 1950, Jogendranath Mandal found himself compelled to repatriate to India, a decision precipitated by an outstanding arrest warrant against him in Pakistan
First, his demand to have two more Dalit members as ministers was also ignored by Liaquat Ali Khan, then Prime minister of Pakistan.
Second, he countered the proposed Objectives Resolution that defined Pakistan, an Islamic state, which disregarded the rights of ethnic and religious minorities
he persevered in his endeavors to aid the rehabilitation of Hindu refugees from East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh), whose influx was rapidly impacting West Bengal.
He contested in the Barasat constituency in the year 1967 and was defeated.
His demise occurred on 5 October 1968 in Bongaon at the age of 64, North 24 Parganas under mysterious circumstances
In the 1943 Mandal joined the cabinet of Bengal under Nazimuddin whom he supported with some conditions for the unliftment of the lower castes.
The conditions were that there would be three ministers and three parliamentary secretaries from lower caste backgrounds. Rs 5,00,000 would be alloted for student scholarship and reservation would be provided by ratio in various departments.
Jogendranath was the first to set up this reservation system in 1943. After that, Ambedkar was influenced by Jogendranath
