Politics in Bengal erupted following a Madhya Pradesh Minister Inder Singh Parmar’s remark on social reformer Raja Rammohan Roy with a number of Trinamool Congress and Left politicians demanding an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and action against the erring politician.
Bengal Minister Shashi Panda attacked Parmer, saying his statements only proved the school of thought his party represented.
“His statements only prove the thought process of the political group that he represents and the kind of respect they have for women because it is known to one and all that it was Raja Rammohan Roy who pioneered the fight against Sati system — in which the women were immolated in the funeral pyres of their husbands — and emancipated the Indian women from it,” Panja said.
Another senior TMC leader and party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh demanded “immediate apology from Prime Minister and strict and stern action against this minister failing which the people of Bengal will understand what has to be understood they (BJP) are not only anti-women but also anti-Bengal time and again the actions taken by the BJP and its Governments on a number of issues go on to prove this now the Prime Minister will enact a drama from teleprompter and express his false love for the people of Bengal. We want action against this man and an apology from the Prime Minister.” Though reluctant to connect it with elections, CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakrabarty said that Parmar’s remarks definitely showcased his party’s “anti-Bengal, anti-women mindset … which is why Jyoti Basu once called them a party of uncivilized people.”
Senior Bengal saffron leader and Union Minister Sukanata Majumdar refused to comment, saying he had not heard about the incident. Parmar, however, expressed his apology saying he had not meant what he said calling it a “slip of tongue.”
Earlier, Parmar triggered a row by calling Roy, an “agent of the British” who started a “vicious cycle of religious conversion.”