It is very gratifying to note that Raja Rammohun Roy, the father of modern India, has at last received some attention which has been long overdue. There have been yearlong celebrations, although on a modest scale, to pay tribute to the multifaceted contributions of this great man organized by many of his admirers. On his sestercentennial birth anniversary, i.e., 22 May 2022, there have also been celebrations across the country, to mark the occasion. The government of West Bengal has honoured him by declaring Radhanagar, his place of birth, to be a heritage place. Various organisations, both government and private, have organized programmes on a larger scale to commemorate the occasion. Perhaps, the celebration could have been organized on a much grander scale at the national level and different organisations marking the occasion through their year-long efforts could have come together to make it more appealing to the general masses who are still unaware of the Raja’s contributions at awakening the slumbering soul of this great country. His ideologies could have been propagated widely to inspire humanity to be more rational and tolerant.
However, appreciations of his way of thinking by his followers and criticisms of his reform movements by his opponents have come a full circle; he has faced much antagonism in his lifetime from his brethren for his rationalistic and radical ideas and he has not been spared even by his posterity. Even intellectuals have chosen to misrepresent him and undermine his efforts at reforming the society by deliberately trying to misjudge him.
Fortunately, today, society is more appreciative of his contributions and more so in a time where the world in general and this country in particular, are again divided along the fault lines of race and religion. Perhaps we need his ideals of universalism, unity, equity, rationality, tolerance and freedom of thought and expression to bring peace and equanimity in our very existence on this earth. We should work together to propagate his ideals and inspire the new generation by his ever widening thoughts and actions.
In this issue we bring out the second part of an article by Jawahar Sircar that makes a holistic estimation of the contributions of Rammohun Roy in shaping our nationhood.
We conclude our tribute to Dr. Gajanan Yeshwant Chitnis, a leader inspired by the Brahmo Samaj through the article by Malavika Nagarkar.
The gleanings from the sermons of late Beni Madhab Das are also published in this issue. We also pay homage to Bhai Pratap Chunder Mozoomder on his 117th death anniversary that falls on May 27, 2022.