3rd August 2020

 Musings.......

Freedom Fighters - Part 3 

Dadabhai Naoroji 

It will be great injustice if I do not mention one of the first leaders who stirred national consciousness in the country. 

Born in 1825 into a priestly Parsi family in present day Gujarat, Dadabhai Naoroji was a prominent nationalist leader with progressive views.  He belonged to the school of moderates, and was a great believer in constitutional methods. 

Dadabhai Naoroji was one of the founding members of the Indian National Congress along with AO Hume and Dinshaw Wacha in 1885. 

Even before that he served as the first Indian member of the British Parliament. 

In 1865, Naoroji launched the London Indian Society with the intention of discussing Indian political, social, and literary subjects. 

In 1867, Naoroji helped establish the East India Association, which was a predecessor to the Indian National Congress with the aim of putting across the Indian point of view before the British public. The association worked successfully in countering the propaganda by the Ethanological Society of London which in 1866 tried to prove the inferiority of Asians to the Europeans.  

Naoroji was also one of the members of Indian National Association founded by Surendranath Bannerjee from Calcutta a few years before founding the Indian National Congress with the same objectives. 

Both the groups later merged with the Indian National Congress (INC) and Naoroji was elected Congress president in 1886. 

His unearthing of colonial economic exploitation is the most important contribution to Indian National Movement. 

In his book, Poverty and Unbritish Rule in India (1901) he exposed the economic exploitation of Indians under British rule. 

His historic “ Drain of Wealth Theory” referred to the unilateral transfer of wealth from Indian to Britain causing widespread poverty and famines in a country which was once called the Golden Bird (Sone ki Chidiya) during the Mughal period. 

Due to Naorojis phenomenal work the first period of the Indian National Movement (1885-1905) is referred to as ‘The Phase of Economic Colonialism’. 

Naoroji describes 6 factors resulting in wealth drain - 

- [ ] India being governed by a foreign government. 

- [ ] India do not attract immigrants which brings labour and capital for economic growth 

- [ ] India pays for Britains civil administration and army. 

- [ ] India pays for building the British empire 

- [ ] Opening the country to free trade was a way to exploit India by offering highly paid jobs to foreign personnel. 

- [ ] Principle earners would buy outside India or leave with the money as they were mostly British. 

By early 1900s Naoroji openly called for self government which according to him was the only option to stop the drain of wealth. 

Naoroji was again elected Congress President in 1906 as a compromise candidate between the Moderates and Extremists due to his wider acceptance by both the groups. He was a mentor to Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Gandhiji.  

Mahatma Gandhi wrote about the ‘Grand Old Man of Indian Nationalism’ - “ The Indians look up to you as children to the father. Such is really the feeling here”. 

Bal Gangadhar Tilak said about him “ If twenty eight crore of Indians were entitled to send only one member to the British Parliament, there is no doubt that we would have elected Dadabhai Naoroji unanimously to grace the post”. 

His ideas and writings helped generate the anti- Colonial mindset among the Indians in those times. 

Through his societies and organisations with which he was associated, he voiced the grievances of the Indian people and proclaimed their aims, ideals and aspirations to the world at large. 

We can easily see that Dadabhai Nairoji was one of the most important leaders of the Early Nationalist movement against the British.

Food for Thought.......

RC