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Mandal, Jogendranath (1904-1968) political leader. Jogendranath Mandal fought for the cause of the scheduled castes. Born on 29 January 1904 in the Maistarkandi village of Barisal district, he was the youngest of the ten children of his parents. His grand father Nabin Chandra Mandal, an affluent peasant, had great love for education. As a young child Jogen suffered harassment because of his lower caste background at the hands of his class fellows coming from caste Hindu families. In 1924 he passed the Matriculation Examination in the First Division with distinction in Mathematics and Sanskrit. As a student of BM College, Barisal, Jogendranath Mandal actively involved himself with the activities of the 'Little Brothers of the Poor', a social welfare organisation. There was discriminations against the lower caste students prevailing in the college premises. In fact, lower caste students were forbidden to worship alongside caste Hindu students during the Saraswati Puja. Jogendranath came to believe that spread of education amongst the lower castes would create in them an inclination to build up a powerful social movement. Jogendranath obtained the BA and BL degrees and started practising in the Calcutta Small Causes Court as a junior to Chandmohan Chakrabarti. He contested the 1937 Bengal Legislative Assembly elections from the Bakarganj North-East General Rural Constituency and won a surprise victory over Saral Kumar Datta, the apparent heir of aswini kumar datta. Most of the Namasudra and other scheduled caste voters as well as a section of the caste Hindu voters exercised their franchise in his favour. After his election to the Legislature Mandal worked tirelessly for the upliftment of the scheduled castes and won admiration of the Bose brothers. In the 1940 Calcutta Corporation elections he, on the recommendation of the Boses, ran as a candidate for a reserved ward. At this time he did lean towards the Congress, but soon became disillusioned with the Congress' politics, since the Congress ministries did not implement legislation for social reform on a large scale. Subsequently, he developed political connections with Dr Ambedkar and also entered into a political alliance with the Muslim League. Incidentally, twenty scheduled Caste members supported the Nazimuddin Ministry and three of them were given cabinet berths. Jogendranath was appointed as the Minister for Co-operative Credit and Rural Indebtedness. In the meantime, he founded the Bengal branch of the All India Scheduled Castes Federation (AISCF). After the fall of the Nazimuddin Ministry in March 1945 Bengal was placed under Governor's rule. In the elections held during the winter of 1945-46, Jogendranath Mandal won from the Bakarganj South (Reserved) Constituency, though he suffered a defeat in the Bakarganj Noth-East General Rural Constituency. Towards the end of 1946, Jogendranath almost single-handed ensured the election of Dr Ambedkar from Bengal to the Constituent Assembly. Subsequently, mohammed ali jinnah realising the political clout of Jogendranath in Muslim dominated Eastern Bengal decided to nominate him for a ministerial post. As a law Member of the Government Jogendranath tried to stem the communal disturbances in Noakhali. On the eve of the partition of India Jogendranath Mandal supported huseyn
shaheed suhrawardy, sarat
chandra bose and others for a United Bengal. With mountbatten's announcement of the partition plan on 3 June 1947, however, he lent support for Pakistan. In independent Pakistan Mandal was entrusted with the Ministries of Law and Labour. He remained in this position till October 1950, when he resigned and finally left to settle in Calcutta where he died in 1968. During the years from 1950 to 1968 he continued to plead for the rights of the under privileged sections in the society. [Raj Sekhar Basu]
Bibliography Jagadiscandra
Mandal, Mahapran Jogendranath Mandal, l, Kalikata, 1382 BS (1975);
Shila Sen, Muslim Politics in Bengal 1937-47, New Delhi, 1976;
Sugata Bose, Agrarian Bengal: Economy, Social Structure and Politics,
1919-1947, Cambridge, 1986. |
