Updated: Nov 16, 2025, 09:03 pm IST

Madhya Pradesh Higher Education Minister and BJP leader Inder Singh Parmar sparked controversy on Saturday by calling social reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy a “British agent” who initiated a “vicious cycle of religious conversion.” The remarks drew sharp criticism from opposition parties and historians alike.

Parmar made the comments during an event in Agar Malwa district commemorating the 150th birth anniversary of tribal icon Birsa Munda. He said, “Raja Ram Mohan Roy was a British agent. He worked in the country as their ‘dalal’ and started a vicious cycle of religious conversion. If anyone had the courage to stop this and protect the tribal community, it was Birsa Munda.”

The remarks triggered outrage in political and academic circles. West Bengal Minister Shashi Panja of the TMC condemned the statement, saying it was an attempt by the BJP to demean Bengal’s intelligentsia and insult the state’s pride. Samajwadi Party spokesperson Yash Bhartiya accused the BJP of continuing a “colonial mindset” by undermining India’s social reformers. NSUI national spokesperson Viraj Yadav called the remarks “shameful” and a “wilful distortion of history,” highlighting Roy’s contributions to abolishing Sati, promoting women’s education, and founding the Brahmo Samaj.

After widespread backlash, Parmar issued a video apology, claiming the statement was a “slip of the tongue.” “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.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy, widely regarded as the “Father of the Indian Renaissance,” was a pioneering social reformer who worked to abolish social evils, championed women’s rights, and laid the foundations of the Brahmo Samaj, a socio-religious reform movement founded in 1828.