Chief Minister Professor (Dr.) Manik Saha on Friday inaugurated a two-day long international seminar on Raja Ram Mohan Roy: The Father of Indian Renaissance’ was organized by Birchandra State Central Library in collaboration with Raja Ram Mohan Roy Library Foundation  as part of the 250th birth anniversary celebrations of Raja Ram Mohan Roy at Pragya Bhavan.

Addressing in the inaugural session Chief Minister Professor (Dr.) Manik Saha said that Raja Ram Mohan Roy is known for his vocal opposition to the stereotypes and social evils of the Indian society and remarkable reforms. He opposed the evils like sati practice, child marriage, polygamy prevalent in the society and succeeded in stopping it to a great extent. He emphasized on educating women to improve their condition in the society.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy is known for setting up the Brahmo Samaj, a reformist movement of Hindu religion that aimed at fighting social evils that were prevalent in the society, such as superstitious practices, customs such as Sati, child marriage, the rigidity of the caste system and its excesses, and sought property inheritance rights for women. Thinkers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Vidyasagar, Bankimchandra, Swami Vivekananda etc. reawakened India’s self. Their lifestyle needs to be presented to our new generation, he added.

“Even in the internet era, books have immense importance. One of the ways to discover yourself is to read books. And the library is the main resource for reading books,” he said, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has attempted to revive the library system by modernizing it.

On the other hand, the Director General of the National Library of Kolkata Ajay Pratap Singh said that Raja Ram Mohan Roy had done many social movements with the aim of giving social status to women. Among these, his movement against cruel social customs like sati-immolation was one of them. His contribution to education reform at that time was also undeniable.