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The Higher Education Minister for Madhya Pradesh and BJP leader, Inder Singh Parmar, has sparked a controversy after referring to social reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy as an “agent of the British” who initiated a “vicious cycle of religious conversion”.
Following the public outrage over his remarks, the state minister issued an apology on Sunday, claiming the comment was merely a “slip of the tongue.”
In a video statement, Parmar said the remark “came out by mistake”.
“Raja Ram Mohan Roy was a social reformer, and he should be respected. The sentence slipped out of my mouth by mistake, and I am very sad about it. I apologise for it,” he said.
Parmar made the contentious statement during an event in the Agar Malwa district of MP, held to mark the 150th birth anniversary of the tribal icon Birsa Munda.
“Raja Ram Mohan Roy was a British agent. He worked in the country as their ‘dalal’, and started a vicious cycle of religious conversion,” he remarked.
The British had projected several people as “fake social reformers” and promoted those who encouraged conversions, he claimed.
“If anyone had the courage to stop this and protect the tribal community, it was Birsa Munda,” he said, adding that missionary schools were the only educational institutions during the British rule and education was used as a cover for religious conversion.
The Minister asserted that Munda had recognised this trend, abandoned his missionary education, and subsequently championed the cause of his community and fought against British rule. The Minister also insisted he did not intend to insult any historical figure.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy, born on 22 May 1772 in Radhanagar, Bengal, into an orthodox Brahmin family, is widely known as the father of the Indian Renaissance. He is credited with ushering in an era of enlightenment and liberal, reformist modernisation across India.
Opposition Parties Criticise
Hitting out at the BJP, Shashi Panja, a West Bengal minister and TMC leader, stated on Sunday that Parmar’s comment on Raja Ram Mohan Roy clearly demonstrated the party’s attempts to demean Bengal’s intelligentsia.
“If the BJP wants to axe its own foot, it is free to do so; but it cannot insult Bengal,” she said, claiming that the people of the state are watching the “attack on the pride of Bengal.”
Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Bhupendra Gupta said Parmar’s remark was not only factually incorrect but also “an insult to India’s reformist legacy.” He added that the minister’s comments reflected a dangerous political trend of rewriting history to fit certain “ideological narratives.”
“Was the abolition of Sati also some form of British brokerage? Those who were truly close to the British are today calling our reformers agents,” he said.
