Kolkata: The stage is set for the assembly elections in West Bengal. Every party is trying to garner votes in the name of Bengali identity and its great personalities. In this race, Trinamool Congress’s ‘number two’ and Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, MP Abhishek Banerjee, has landed in a major controversy. While remembering the great Bengali social reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Abhishek Banerjee made a big mistake in stating historical facts. Now he is facing severe criticism.
What Abhishek said
TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee held a rally at the College Ground in Medinipur on Friday. At the beginning of his speech, he strongly criticized the BJP, CPI-M, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During this, he described the great social reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy as the greatest thinker of Bengal and Bengalis. He was recalling Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s role in ending the Sati practice. In this context, Abhishek misinterpreted the Sati practice.
Abhishek said, “BJP leaders have called this same Ram Mohan Roy a British agent. If Ram Mohan Roy had not been there, after the death of my or your mother, your or my father would have had to burn alive on that pyre. A Bengali ended that Sati practice.”
BJP targets Abhishek
Responding to Abhishek’s comment, BJP district vice-president Shankar Guchhait said, “Nothing more can be expected from this illiterate coal thief and sand thief nephew. Attempts are being made to distort history. The people of the state will give a befitting reply to all this in the assembly elections.”
Sati practice and Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s contribution
After the death of her husband, a widow was burned alive on his funeral pyre. This was known as the ‘Sati’ practice. William Carey attempted to stop this practice in 1799. Raja Ram Mohan Roy appealed to Governor General Lord Wellesley to stop the Sati practice. Subsequently, in 1812, Ram Mohan Roy launched a social movement against the practice of Sati.
In 1821, he published a pamphlet titled “A Dialogue Between an Advocate and an Opponent of Sati.” Later, Ram Mohan Roy appealed to Lord William Bentinck to declare Sati illegal. Convinced by Ram Mohan Roy’s arguments, Lord Bentinck initiated legislation on the matter. Finally, on December 4, 1829, a law was passed declaring Sati illegal and a punishable offense.
