As India observes Partition Horrors Remembrance Day on August 14, the nation must confront an uncomfortable truth long buried beneath conventional narratives of Hindu-Muslim discord: the systematic betrayal and persecution of India’s Scheduled Castes during the traumatic division of 1947.

This overlooked tragedy offers profound lessons for contemporary politics, particularly regarding the dangerous revival of the ‘Jai Meem Jai Bheem’ formula, a slogan that embodies the very alliance politics that led to catastrophic suffering for Dalits nearly eight decades ago.

The architect of history’s first systematic Dalit-Muslim political alliance was Jogendra Nath Mandal, who became Pakistan’s inaugural Law and Labour Minister. A prominent advocate for Scheduled Castes, Mandal made what would prove to be a catastrophic miscalculation: believing that Muslims and Dalits, both perceived as oppressed minorities, could forge a natural partnership against Hindu social dominance. This ideological foundation that shared minority status automatically translates into mutual solidarity forms the conceptual bedrock of today’s ‘Jai Meem Jai Bheem’ movement.

During the tumultuous partition period, Mandal emerged as a key Muslim League leader, instructing his Scheduled Caste followers to vote for Pakistan’s creation. When communal violence erupted across Bengal, Mandal toured extensively, urging Dalits to refrain from retaliating against Muslims, arguing that both communities were equally victimized by oppression. His rhetoric of unity and brotherhood convinced hundreds of thousands of Dalit Hindus to remain in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), trusting in the Muslim League’s promises of equality and protection.

The Muslim League’s courting of Dalit support was strategically calculated. Recognizing that Scheduled Castes comprised significant voting blocs in Bengal and other regions, Muslim leaders crafted elaborate promises of social equality, economic opportunity, and political representation. They painted Pakistan as a progressive state where caste hierarchies would dissolve and merit would triumph over birth-based discrimination. These assurances proved to be sophisticated political deceptions designed exclusively for electoral gain.

The promised land of equality swiftly transformed into a nightmare of persecution. By 1950, Mandal found himself compelled to resign from his ministerial position and flee........

© News18