Members of the West Bengal Heritage Commission led by its chairperson and painter Shuvaprasanna on Sunday visited the ancestral home of 18th Century Bengali polymath Raja Rammohan Roy and few other historical places associated with one of the pioneers of Bengali Renaissance.
Rammohan Roy was born on May 22, 1772, at Radhanagar village of Hooghly’s Khanakul.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had directed all to celebrate and observe the birth anniversary of the social reformer during her administrative meeting in Jhargram last week. Rammohan Roy is considered for his role to abolish child marriage and Sati and treated my many historians as the father of Bengali Renaissance.
The state government had earlier announced that heritage status would be accorded to Rammohan Roy’s ancestral home and other places of Radhanagar village and its adjoining areas last year. On Sunday, the members of the heritage commission put up plaques symbolising the heritage tag at the properties associated with the reformer.
“Raja Rammohan Roy was the pioneer of Bengali Renaissance and we are celebrating his 250th birth anniversary. We are proud to confer the heritage tag on his ancestral home today even though there was a delay. We will grant a budget to preserve his ancestral home and the library,” said Shuvaprasanna.
In Calcutta, minister Sobhandeb Chattapadhyay paid floral tributes to the statue of Rammohan Roy on Sunday.