Chandrima Basu Majumdar, Adwaita Basu
Abstract- Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar were two remarkable personalities in the 19th century India, known for their progressive and advanced thoughts and concepts within the British colonial rule. As India had been ruled by Muslim rulers for a long period, the political rights, freedom of individuals, rights of education had come to a standstill. The traditional Indian society as a whole, had been surrounded by rituals, superstitions, poverty and illiteracy, where liberalism, civil rights, right to equality, free expression of one’s own opinion etc. have received scarce importance and are neglected. However, the British government in India introduced certain Western styled Constitutional political rights and reforms over time, although these were limited for Indian citizens. Owing to the constant instigation of spirited outstanding individuals in the form of Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, the British colonial Government was compelled to rethink on several political issues. This paper seeks to show that Roy and Vidyasagar not only played a progressive role in breaking the barrier of prejudice of orthodox mentality but also built a ground breaking change and created a new modern era in political spheres through socio-educational approach. This paper is also conducted to show a comparison of ideas and perception in between Roy and Vidyasagar’s and relevance of their contributions towards political aspects in the 21st century where India gained and restored a good position in modern constitutional politics.
