David Hare, a close associate of Raja Rammohan Roy, took a keen interest in starting the Hindu College at Calcutta in 1817. From this, college emerged an ultra-radical reform movement known as the Young Bengal Movement under the leadership of an Anglo-Indian Henry Vivian Derozio, in the 1920s.
Henry Vivian Derozio (Assistant Headmaster of Hindu College), was a radical thinker and a poet. Within no time, he drew around him the best boys of the college whom he constantly encouraged to think freely and to question every authority.
He promoted more radical ideas through his teachings and organized debates and discussions. The main agenda of members of the Young Bengal Movement (also known as Derozians) was as follows
- Question all social traditions and customers.
- Debate the existence of God.
- Defy social and religious conventions.
- Freedom of thought and expression.
- Education for women.
It must be noted here that they failed to have a long-term impact. It is because the social conditions of the time were not ripe for the adoption of radical ideas.