Both India’s and Pakistan’s first law ministers were Dalits

Evidence

In a gesture of goodwill, and perhaps because there was no one as equal to the task as he was, the Congress appointed Ambedkar to the Constituent Assembly. In August 1947, Ambedkar was appointed India’s first Law Minister and Chairman of the Drafting Committee for the Constitution. Across the new border, Jogendranath Mandal became Pakistan’s first Law Minister. It was extraordinary that, through all the chaos and prejudice, the first law ministers of both India and Pakistan were Dalits. Mandal was eventually disillusioned with Pakistan and returned to India. Ambedkar was disillusioned too, but he really had nowhere to go. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 436

Categorization

• CANDY: A striking, tweetable historical coincidence that the two partition rivals both opened with Dalit law ministers.