Kolkata, Nov 16 (IANS) The recent controversial statement by a Madhya Pradesh minister on Bengali social reformer and scholar Raja Ram Mohan Roy has triggered a new flash point between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP.

The Mamata Banerjee-led party was quick to slam the BJP as “anti-Bengali” and its leaders in West Bengal as outsiders after BJP’s Madhya Pradesh Higher Education Minister Inder Singh Parmar called the 19th-century scholar a “British agent”.

Speaking at an event in Agar Malwa district to mark the 150th anniversary of Birsa Munda, Parmar claimed the tribal icon had tried to stop the cycle of religious conversion run by some fake social reformers at the behest of the British rulers.

“There was a vicious cycle going on in Bengal and nearby regions to change the faith of the people of this country through English education, and the British had made several Indians as fake social reformers. Raja Ram Mohan Roy was one of those who kept working as a British agent. And if someone dared to stop the cycle of religious conversion by them, it was Birsa Munda. He saved the tribal community,” said Parmar.

Roy is often called the father of the modern Indian renaissance. He is celebrated for his efforts in the abolition of the Sati practice and promoting women’s rights, such as widow remarriage. He was also one of the founders of the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, which later became Brahmo Samaj.

Seizing the opportunity, the Trinamool Congress trained its guns on the BJP for being anti-Bengali. The party once again used the occasion to set the Bengali and Bengali identity narrative, which was created after migrant workers from Bengal were allegedly harassed and attacked in BJP-ruled states, ahead of the 2026 state Assembly polls.

Although Bengal BJP leaders are yet to speak on the issue, Trinamool Congress targeted the BJP for “disrespecting” the culture of Bengal.

“Those whose predecessors used to obey the British, today they are insulting the great social reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy as an ‘agent of the British’, a ‘fake social reformer’. What BJP leader, Madhya Pradesh Higher Education Minister Indra Singh Parmar, said is a manifestation of the dirty mentality of the BJP,” said Trinamool Congress spokesperson Arup Chakraborty.

He said, “This BJP is an extreme misogynist party, so it is insulting to Raja Ram Mohan Roy, who spoke out against atrocities on women. It is disrespecting the culture of Bengal, the intellectuals of Bengal. People will not accept the insult of the intellectuals of Bengal. This anti-Bangla BJP will be completely uprooted.”

The party also used its social media handle to further criticise the BJP for repeatedly disrespecting Bengali cultural icons.

“Failing miserably to make any impact in Bengal, the @BJP4India has now resorted to its dirtiest tactic, defaming Bengal and the towering icons who shaped our civilisation. From Rabindranath Tagore to Swami Vivekananda to Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, no legend has been spared from the BJP’s relentless insults. And now, in a shocking display of ignorance and arrogance, Madhya Pradesh Higher Education Minister @Indersinghsjp calls Raja Ram Mohan Roy a “British agent” and a “fake reformer,” the party said in a post on X.

“This is the true face of the BJP, a party that cannot respect culture, intellect, or social reform because it thrives only on hate, lies, and distortion. But Bengal is watching,” it further said.

–IANS

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