Dadabhai Naoroji was a politician whose name is synonymous to the freedom struggle for the independence of India. Also famously called “The Grand Old Man of India”, He was born on the 4th of September, 1825 to a Parsi family in Bombay.
An intellectual, and academician, an economist, a staunch nationalist, a social reformer and an educator, Dadabhai Naoroji was instrumental in the formation of the Indian National Congress along with other leaders like Dinshaw Edulji Wacha and A. O. Hume.
He was under the patronage and supervision of Sayajirao Gaekwad III who happened to be the Maharaja of Baroda where he took the role of a dewan (minister) to the Maharaja.
The year 1855 saw the induction of Dadabhai Naoroji in the Elphinstone College in Bombay as a Professor of Natural Philosophy and Mathematics. In the year 1859, Dadabhai Naoroji taught Gujarati as a Professor in the University College London.
Dadabhai Naoroji founded the London Indian Society in the year 1865. In the same year, Dadabhai Naoroji moved to London to establish the first Indian Company in England.
He held the post of the Prime Minister of Baroda in the year 1874. He stood unsuccessfully for election to Parliament in 1886. He became one of the members of the Legislative Council of Bombay from the year 1885 to the year 1888.After the birth of the Indian National Congress, he was voted the President in the year 1886.
In 1892, however, he was elected Liberal member of Parliament for Central Finsbury, London. He became widely known for his unfavourable opinion of the economic consequences of British rule in India and was appointed a member of the royal commission on Indian expenditure in 1895. In 1886, 1893, and 1906 he also presided over the annual sessions of the Indian National Congress, which led the nationalist movement in India. In the year 1901, he published ‘Poverty and un-British Rule in India’.
In the session of 1906 his conciliatory tactics helped to postpone the impending split between moderates and extremists in the Congress Party. In his many writings and speeches and especially in Poverty and Un-British Rule in India (1901), Naoroji argued that India was too highly taxed and that its wealth was being drained away to England.
Dadabhai Naoroji’s ‘Drain of Wealth’ theory and poverty:
Dadabhai Naoroji formulated six major postulates that justified how the British administration in India was plundering its wealth without any measure by the former to fulfill the void.
First Factor: As per this, it enabled such exploitation was due to the nature of administration of India where the country was being governed not by its own elected people but rather, a foreign government.
Second Factor: This highlighted the lack of the influx of immigrants in India that directly caused the chocking of the inflow of labor and capital; the two variables that are an absolute essential for an economy to flourish.
Third Factor: The major expenses of the army of the British along with the administration personnel from various civil bodies were all sustained by India.
Fourth Factor: The fourth highlight spoke of the miscellaneous expenses that arose on account of the building of England along with her infrastructure were too, borne by India.
Fifth Factor: It depicted how India in the name of free trade was being plundered of its resources without any kind of compromise where the jobs with handsome packages were all offered to the foreign nationals.
Sixth Factor: The final justification to this wealth drain spoke of how there was a drain in capital as most income earners were foreign national themselves and by the virtue of them returning to their own lands caused in the tremendous loss of capital.
These postulates were eventually published in his famous text titled ‘Poverty and Un-British Rule in India’ in the year 1901.
The reason why he is called “The Grand Old Man of India”:
Dadabhai Naoroji is also popularly recalled as the ‘Grand Old Man of India’. The title ‘Grand Old Man of India’ commemorates the impeccable abilities of Dadabhai Naoroji and the vast contributions that he selflessly put forth for India’s freedom struggle as well as the betterment of the citizens of the country.
Literary Works of Dadabhai Naoroji:
Following are a few of the literary works of Dadabhai Naoroji among the many:
- The Manners and Customs of the Parsees (Bombay, 1864)
- The European and Asiatic races (London, 1866)
- Admission of Educated Natives into the Indian Civil Service (London, 1868)
- The Wants and Means of India (London, 1876)
- Poverty and Un-British Rule in India (1902)
