''Rajmata'' Benita Roy (born 18 August 1907, date of death unknown) was a

Bangladeshi Bangladeshis ( bn, বাংলাদেশী ) are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centered on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay. Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the ...

aristocrat The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient Ro ...

, litterateur,

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

and

minister Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

. She was the forty-ninth

Rani ''Rani'' in Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, sometimes spelled ''Ranee'', is a Hindu/Sanskrit feminine given name. The term is the female form of the term for princely rulers in South and Southeast Asia and applies equally to the wife of a ...

of the

Chakma Circle The Chakma Circle ( Chakma: 𑄌𑄇𑄴𑄟𑄳𑄦 𑄥𑄢𑄴𑄇𑄬𑄣𑄴), also known as the Chakma Raj, is one of three hereditary chiefdoms (or "circles") in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of modern-day Bangladesh. The Chakma Circle encompa ...

in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Roy served as the Rajmata during the kingship of

Tridev Roy Raja Tridiv Roy ( ur, ; bn, ত্রিদিব রায়; 𑄌𑄋𑄴𑄟𑄳𑄦: 𑄖𑄳𑄢𑄨𑄘𑄨𑄝𑄴 𑄢𑄧𑄠𑄴; sometimes spelled Tridev Roy, (14 May 1933 – 17 September 2012) was a Pakistani politician, diplomat ...

and

Debashish Roy Devasish Roy (also spelled Debashish Roy; born 9 April 1959) is a Bangladeshi politician and lawyer. He is the titular Raja of the Chakma Circle, Bangladesh's largest indigenous community, and was a member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on ...

. She was a member of Bangladesh's first delegation to the UN General Assembly in 1972. She was a minister in the Bangladeshi government from 1975 to 1978.

Family and the arts

Benita Sen was born on 18 August 1907 in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, England to law student Saral Chandra Sen. Her paternal grandfather, Keshub Chandra Sen, was a Bengali Hindu reformer and Brahmo Samaj leader. Her mother's sister,

Naina Devi Mata Naina Devi is a town and a municipal council in Bilaspur district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Demographics As of the 2001 India census, Naina Devi had a population of 1161. Males constitute 63% of the population and females 3 ...

, was a singer of Hindustani classical music. Benita attended

Bethune College Bethune College is a women's college located on Bidhan Sarani in Kolkata, India, and affiliated to the University of Calcutta. It is the oldest women's college in India. It was established as a girls' school in 1849, and as a college in 1879. ...

in Calcutta until age 18, when she married Raja Nalinaksha Roy and became the forty-ninth Rani of the Chakma Circle. She was widowed in 1951. Benita was a close associate of Rabindranath Tagore, under whose patronage she launched the first literary magazine in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Named ''Garika'', it was the first publication of its kind to feature Chakma language poetry.

Liberation War and government

During the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...

in 1971, Roy opened up the Rangamati Palace as a shelter for civilians. In 1972, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman appointed her as a member of Bangladesh's first delegation to the UN General Assembly. The Pakistani government at the time sent a counter delegation led by her son Tridev Roy, who sided with the Pakistani establishment in the liberation war. During the political and constitutional crises of the mid 1970s, Roy served in the Bangladeshi government as Minister of Land Administration and Land Reforms (December 1975 - January 1976) and Minister of Relief and Rehabilitation (February 1976 - June 1978).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roy, Benita 1907 births Year of death missing Women government ministers of Bangladesh Chakma people Bangladeshi Buddhists Bangladeshi diplomats Bangladeshi women diplomats Disaster Management and Relief ministers of Bangladesh Land ministers of Bangladesh