38) Dadabhai Naoroji : The Grand Old Man Of India He laid the foundation of India’s Freedom struggle/ Indian Nationalism (04.09.1825 – 30.06.1917)

Dadabhai Naoroji : The Grand Old Man Of India

He laid the foundation of India’s Freedom struggle/ Indian Nationalism

(04.09.1825 – 30.06.1917)

For the stamp issued by India Post on 29.12.2017 on Dadabhai Naoroji, please visit the following link: Dadabhai Naoroji: Grand Old Man of India: A commemorative stamp issued by India Post on the centenary of his passing away in 1917: Stamp issue date: 29.12.2017

 Dadabhai was born at Nasik (Maharashtra-India) on 4^th September 1825 in Bombay (present day Mumbai) in a poor Parsi Priest’s family. He was a Parsi intellectual, businessman and an educationist. He studied in Elphinstone College in Bombay and took up assignment as the Head Native Assistant Master and later became a Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in the same college. At the age of 27, he became the first Indian to become a Professor in Elphinstone College.

He was strongly opposed to the misrule by the British India Government and joined politics in 1852. He wrote several petitions to Governors and Viceroys regarding the sufferings of Indians under British rule and strongly opposed the renewal of lease to the East India Company in 1853, but when his communications elicited no response from the British India authorities and the lease to the East India Company was renewed, he realized that the path to achieving Independence from the British yoke and self-rule, lay in Education and informed action. 

Towards the goal of spreading education among the Indians and highlighting the concept of Independent and free India, he founded the “Gyan Prasarak Mandal” (Organization/ Society for spreading/promotion of knowledge).

He left India in 1855, at the age of 30, to join the first Indian business firm and in 1859, established his own cotton trading business firm there.  He also taught as a Professor of Gujarati at University College, London.

While in England, he joined several learned societies and made several speeches and   wrote about the plight of Indians under the British India Government, trying to influence the opinion of the British Parliament and citizens about the imperative need for an Independent self-governing India. 

In 1859 he started a campaign of agitation against the injustice meted out to Indians, in the system of recruitment in the Indian Civil Service (ICS).

He formed a forum called “East Indian Association” in 1867, for informing the English public on Indian affairs and to make them aware about giving a fair treatment to the Indians. He put before the British people the “Drain Theory” whereby he represented the systematic siphoning off of the wealth and resources of India to England. This forum also had access to, and support of several members of the British Parliament. 

In 1874, he returned to India briefly, and became the Prime Minister of Baroda and, later, became a member of the Legislative Council of Bombay (present day Mumbai) from 1885 to 1888. He was a founder member of  the “Indian National Association” (INA) in Calcutta (present day – Kolkata) , before founding the “Indian National Congress”  in 1886 in which the INA was merged, with Dadabhai as its first President, a post he was to hold three times in all on various occasions.

But, he felt that he should return to England and continue with the work of apprising the British citizens in England on the plight of Indians in India.

When all his efforts met with limited success, he got himself elected to the British Parliament from Central Finsbury as a Liberal Party candidate in 1892 (almost 40 years after he had gone to England to educate the British citizens and Parliament about the plight of Indians under the East India Company Government and later the British Crown). He was the first Indian/Asian Member of the British Parliament.  In Parliament, he spoke on the Irish Home Rule and the condition of the Indian people.

 He managed to get a resolution passed in British Parliament for holding preliminary examinations for the Indian Civil Services (I.C.S.) in India and England simultaneously. 

In 1895, he was appointed to the Royal Commission on Indian expenditure. He also got the Royal Commission on Indian expenditure to acknowledge that India was too heavily taxed, and its wealth was flowing back to England. He got the commission to acknowledge the need for more equitable distribution of wealth between England and India.

His efforts in this direction are summarized in his book “Poverty and Un-British Rule in India”, published in 1901.

He was the driving spirit behind the formation of the Indian National Congress along with A.O. Hume and Dinshaw Edulji Wacha, in 1885, and was elected the President of the Congress party three times. During his third term as President of the Congress party in 1906, there was a split between the “moderate faction “(led by G.K.Gokhale, who along with Mahatma Gandhi regarded Dadabhai as their mentor) and the “extremist faction” (led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and his associates). Nevertheless, as part of the moderate group, he made a vehement call for “Swaraj” (self-rule) for Indians, but, through peaceful, constitutional and non-violent means.

Literary contributions:

His writings include,  “ The manners and customs of the Parsees “  (1894), “ The European and Asiatic Races” (1866), “ Admission of educated natives into the Indian Civil Service” (1868), “ The Parsee Religion” (1861) and  “Poverty and Un-British Rule in India” (1901).

He, also, started two religious magazines – Dharma Marg (The path of Religion) and Raft Goftar (The Truth Teller) , to educate Parsis about their religion .

Death and legacy:

He passed away on 30.06.1917 at the age of 92, while still on his mission to achieve "Swaraj" (self-rule) for India.

He is fondly remembered as “The Grand Old Man of India” and as the architect who laid the foundation of the Indian Freedom struggle.  He was regarded as a mentor by Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Mahatma Gandhi, and was the uncle of J.R.D. Tata, the great industrialist of India. 

There is a Dadabhai Naoroji Road in Mumbai, which is named after him. Also, there are roads named after him in Karachi, Pakistan, as well as, in the Bloomsbury area of London.

The Reserve Bank of India, to commemorate the life of Dadabhai Naoroji, has brought out a five rupee coin in October 2003 for general circulation. 

The obverse of the coin has the Lion Capital in the centre together with the words “Satyameva Jayate “ (Truth always Prevails) which together form the emblem/Coat of Arms of India. The numeral “5” denoting the denomination of the coin is below the emblem. On the left periphery are the words “Bharat” and “Rupiye” in Hindi and on the right periphery are the words “India” and “Rupees” in English.

On the reverse of the coin is a portrait/image of Dadabhai Naoroji with his name spelt out both in Hindi and English. The years 1825-1917 are mentioned indicating his life years. This s coin was minted at Mumbai mint. Notice the “diamond” mint mark below the year of issue.