Raja Ram Mohan Roy is widely regarded as The Father of Modern India.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy is considered one of the most important figures in India's modern history. Born on this very date back in 1772, Roy devoted his entire life to transforming India into a better place. He fought against the age-old religious dogmas and worked restlessly for the modernization of Indian society. He abolished many dark practices that persisted in India at the time, including Sati Pratha.
Besides, Raja Ram Mohan Roy was a pioneer of liberalism in India. As historian Amiya P Sen wrote about Roy, "... his mind also reveals a wide range of interests, rarely paralleled in the history of Indian thought. He was simultaneously interested in religion, politics, law and jurisprudence, commerce and agrarian enterprise, Constitutions, and civic rights, the unjust treatment of women, and the appalling condition of the Indian poor… And he studied matters not in the abstract or in academic solitude but with the practical objective of securing human happiness and freedom. That made him a modern man.”
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was among India's first liberals. He inaugurated the age of enlightenment and liberal reformist modernization in India. He always believed that the creative spirit should have uncompromising freedom. Hence, he promoted the concept of civil as well as political liberty.
Roy pioneered several movements to make the common people understand their rights to liberty. He founded the Atmiya Sabha (Society of Friends) in the early 19th century, which had a significant role in this.
He promoted the importance of liberalism in religion as well.
