Dadabhai Naoroji

Dadabhai Naoroji (1825-1917), father of Indian nationalism, known as the “grand old man of India.” Naoroji was the spiritual leader, or guru, of the generation of nationalist leaders that included Mohandas Gandhi.

Naoroji was born in Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay) in 1825, the only child of a Parsi (Zoroastrian) priest. He studied at the Elphinstone College in Mumbai. While still a student, Naoroji played a leading role in religious and social reform movements, helping to promote modern Western knowledge and to alter certain traditional customs and practices. At the age of 27 he was appointed professor of mathematics at his alma mater. He was also a founder, in 1852, of the Bombay Association, the first modern political organization in western India.

In 1855 Naoroji moved to England to become a partner in the mercantile firm of Cama and Company. While in England, he worked diligently for British policies more favorable to India. He presented papers on various Indian subjects to learned societies in Liverpool and London, and in 1867 he helped set up the East India Association in London. The purpose of the association was to publish accurate and up-to-date information on India and influence government policy. Naoroji traveled to India to set up local branches of the association and to raise funds for the organization. In 1873 Naoroji became dewan (chief minister) of the former state of Baroda, India, in an attempt to reform its administration. He resigned after about a year because of fundamental policy differences with its ruler.

Naoroji became increasingly concerned about the widespread poverty in India. In The Poverty of India (1876) he claimed that British rule was resulting in a drain of wealth from India to Britain. Mainly as a result of his leadership, economic questions became the focus of Indian nationalist concern for the next 30 years. Naoroji’s classic study, Poverty and un-British Rule in India (1901), played a significant role in stimulating economic nationalism in India.

In 1885 Naoroji helped to found the Indian National Congress, the movement that ultimately won independence for India. He served three times as its president—in 1886, 1893, and 1906. Naoroji was one of the first Indian leaders to declare that self-government, or swaraj, should be the goal of the congress.

In 1892 he was elected to the British Parliament, representing the central London community of Finsbury. The first-ever Indian member of Parliament, he was responsible for securing the appointment of a royal commission on Indian expenditure, and he served on it as its sole Indian member.