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........

© The Express Tribune