Watch: MP minister calls Ram Mohan Roy 'British agent'; TMC hits back

NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday after its Madhya Pradesh minister Inder Singh Parmar called Raja Ram Mohan Roy a “British agent”. West Bengal minister Shashi Panja said the remark insulted Bengal’s people and its long tradition of thinkers. She said the BJP was repeatedly trying to demean Bengal’s intelligentsia and undermine the state’s pride, adding that the people of Bengal are watching this “attack” closely."If the BJP wants to axe its own foot, it is free to do so; but it cannot insult Bengal," she said.Row erupted when Parmar, a BJP leader, accused Roy of religious conversion. "Raja Ram Mohan Roy was a British agent. He worked in the country as their 'dalal', and started a vicious cycle of religious conversion," he had said.He further claimed the British had promoted “fake social reformers” who encouraged conversions and said missionary schools were used as fronts for conversion during colonial rule.

His statement sparked strong reactions, forcing him to issue an apology later. He said it was a “slip of the tongue” and that he was “very sad” about it. Also read: ‘Not just a piece of land’: TMC MP fumes at PM Modi’s ‘Bengal’ remark in Bihar victory speech; offers ‘reality check’"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," Parmar said in a video post on Facebook.Raja Ram Mohan Roy, born in 1772 in Bengal, is widely regarded as a key figure in India’s reformist movement and the early phase of modernisation.