Forgotten Betrayal: Partition's Dalit Victims Warn Against ‘Jai Meem Jai Bheem' Politics
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 Brutal Reality of Betrayal
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 to India. His resignation letter to Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, dated October 8, 1950, documents horrors that constitute one of the 20th century's most underreported genocides.2
The systematic nature of the atrocities was particularly chilling. In Sylhet district alone, Mandal reported that of 350 Dalit settlements, merely three survived intact, the remainder had been reduced to ash. Armed police and military personnel perpetrated calculated brutalities against Innocent Hindus, particularly Scheduled Castes. Men faced torture, women endured mass rape, homes were plundered, and hundreds of temples and gurdwaras were desecrated before being converted into slaughterhouses, meat shops, and hotels serving non-vegetarian food, a calculated assault on Hindu religious sensibilities.
Specific incidents revealed the organized nature of persecution: in Gopalganj's Digharkul, armed police destroyed an entire Namasudra village on fabricated charges; in Parisal's Gournadi, Scheduled Caste settlements faced assault under political pretexts; during Dhaka riots, jewelry shops were looted and burned while police officials watched passively. The violence wasn't spontaneous communal frenzy but systematic ethnic cleansing targeting those who had trusted Muslim League assurances.
Mandal's documentation reveals the psychological torture accompanying physical violence. Dalits who had supported Pakistan's creation found themselves branded as traitors by fellow Hindus while simultaneously facing persecution as 'kafirs" 'jimmi" by Muslims. This double alienation created profound identity crises within communities that had genuinely believed in secular, inclusive Pakistani nationalism.
Between 1947 and 1950, approximately 2.5 million refugees fled East Pakistan for India, with Scheduled Castes comprising a disproportionate majority. These statistics represent more than mere displacement; they constitute evidence that the Muslim League's pledges of security and equality for Scheduled Castes were calculated deceptions designed solely to secure electoral support before partition.
Ambedkar's Prescient Warnings
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar had anticipated this catastrophe with remarkable clarity. In seminal works including 'Pakistan or the Partition of India" and 'Thoughts on Pakistan," he explicitly warned that Muslim politics was fundamentally communal in character, willing to accommodate Scheduled Castes only as long as they provided political advantage. Ambedkar's analysis proved tragically prescient, aligning perfectly with Mandal's eventual experiences.
Ambedkar understood what Mandal fatally overlooked: the religious and cultural values of Dalit and Muslim communities were so fundamentally divergent that genuine equality and coexistence represented nothing more than dangerous political illusion. He cautioned Hindu Dalits that regardless of how extensively Muslim leadership performed brotherhood theatrics, they would ultimately treat Dalits as 'kafirs" or 'jimmi" (infidels) deserving no consideration in an Islamic political framework.
The constitutional architect's warnings extended beyond religious incompatibility to structural political analysis. Ambedkar recognized that Muslim communalism, disguised as minority solidarity, would inevitably prioritize religious identity over social justice concerns central to Dalit aspirations. Contemporary Echoes of Historical Folly
Today's resurrection of this failed formula demands urgent scrutiny. The 'Jal Meem Jal Bheem" slogan, combining Muslim solidarity ('Meem" referencing the Urdu letter) with Dalit empowerment ('Bheem" honoring Dr. Ambedkar), represents the precise ideological framework that Mandal employed during partition. Though this exact phraseology wasn't popular then, its conceptual foundation permeated the Muslim League-Mandal alliance, the belief that Muslims and Scheduled Castes, both minorities, could become natural collaborators.
Unfortunately, contemporary Indian politics witnesses several parties attempting to revive this demonstrably failed strategy. Maharashtra sees growing proximity between Asaduddin Owaisi and Prakash Ambedkar; Uttar Pradesh experienced the Bahujan Samaj Party's unsuccessful attempts at forging alliances between Scheduled Castes and Muslims; the Samajwadi Party's PDA (Pichda-Dalit-Alpsankhyak) formula seeks to harness both communities merely as vote banks.
Recent electoral evidence reinforces historical patterns. The 2019 BSP-SP alliance in Uttar Pradesh collapsed primarily due to asymmetrical vote transfers. While Dalit voters supported Muslim candidates, reciprocal support proved largely illusory. Similarly, the Owaisi-Prakash Ambedkar partnership in Maharashtra fractured over seat-sharing disputes, revealing the same power dynamics that characterized Muslim League treatment of Mandal.
These examples echo historical mistakes, demonstrating that when politics abandons public welfare for narrow caste and communal calculations, the inevitable result is betrayal and social disintegration.
Structural Incompatibilities Persist
The fundamental contradictions that destroyed Mandal's experiment remain unresolved. Power dynamics in every attempted alliance consistently favor Muslim parties, reducing Dalit partners to subordinate positions. Vote transfer patterns reveal systematic asymmetry: while Dalit voters may support Muslim candidates, reciprocal support rarely materializes. Religious identity-based Muslim political consciousness conflicts with caste-focused Dalit aspirations for social justice within Hindu civilizational frameworks.
Moreover, ideological contradictions create insurmountable barriers. Muslim parties' emphasis on religious orthodoxy clashes with Dalit movements' goals of social reform, gender equality, and educational modernization. These philosophical differences, rooted in fundamentally different worldviews about individual rights, social progress, and cultural values, make genuine partnership impossible.
The Path Forward
Contemporary India must acknowledge that sustainable Dalit progress and security will emerge through self-reliance, education, political awareness, and organizational power, not through alliances that history has repeatedly proven catastrophic. The 'Jal Meem Jal Bheem" concept and its practical applications have historically manifested as Scheduled Caste humiliation, identity destruction, and existential annihilation.
Therefore, as we commemorate partition's suffering, let us resolve to make decisions based on historical facts and collective experiences, remaining free from emotional sloganeering and vote bank-driven narrow politics. Jogendra Nath Mandal's experiences and Dr. Ambedkar's warnings teach us that Scheduled Castes will never achieve security, social justice, and dignity from hands that have historically deceived them through religious fanaticism, appeasement, and vote bank politics.
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This represents not merely historical interpretation but guidance for present and future generations. Those who ignore history's lessons are condemned to repeat its most tragic chapters.
Dharampal Singh is state general secretary, organisation, of the BJP Uttar Pradesh. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18's views.
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First Published:
August 13, 2025, 19:44 IST
News opinion Opinion | Forgotten Betrayal: Partition's Dalit Victims Warn Against 'Jai Meem Jai Bheem' Politics
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