Bhagalpur: Sarifa Salowa Dina, dean, faculty of arts and social science-cum-head of the Bangla department, Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur, Bangladesh, on Sunday said Indian social reformist Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was the pioneer in transforming the crusade against child marriage and other atrocities against women in the society, which the government of Bihar had initiated recently.
Dina drew a similarity between Vidyasagar, who spent his last days at Karmatard in Jamtara, now in Jharkhand after the bifurcation of Bihar, and Begum Rokeya, a noted feminist figure, once born at Rangpur in Bangladesh and married in Bhagalpur at 16 years.
She was addressing a seminar on "Vidyasagar and women emancipation" dedicated as Rokeya Memorial Seminar organised by Bangiya Sahitya Parishad, Bhagalpur, Vidyasagar Smriti Raksha Committee and Bengalee Association at Bangiya Sahitya Parishad.
Dina recalled how the two branches of Bangiya Sahitya Parishad were established by Rabindranath Tagore in 1905 in protest against the separation of Bengal by Lord Curzon.