{{Short description|Indian politician, scholar and writer (1825–1917)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}} {{Use British English|date=August 2019}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Dadabhai Naoroji | honorific_prefix = <!--Not an MP or PC, hence loses the style once he stopped being an MP --> | honorific_suffix = <!--Not an MP or PC, hence loses the style once he stopped being an MP --> | image = Dadabhai_Naoroji 1889.jpg | image_size = 220 | caption = Dadabhai Naoroji, {{circa|1889}} | office = Member of Parliament (UK)<br />for Finsbury Central | parliament = | predecessor = Frederick Thomas Penton | successor = William Frederick Barton Massey-Mainwaring | office1 = 2nd, 9th, and 22nd President of Indian National Congress | term_start1 = 1886 | term_end1 = 1887 | predecessor1 = Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee | successor1 = Badruddin Tyabji | term_start2 = 1893 | term_end2 = 1894 | predecessor2 = Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee | successor2 = Alfred Webb | term_start3 = 1906 | term_end3 = 1907 | predecessor3 = Gopal Krishna Gokhale | successor3 = Rashbihari Ghosh | footnotes = | signature = Dadabhai Naoraji signature.svg | signature_alt = | majority = 5 | party = Co-founder of the Indian National Congress | other_party = Liberal | known_for = Co-founder and 2nd, 9th, 22nd President of Indian National Congress | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1825|09|04}} | birth_place = Navsari, Bombay Presidency | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1917|06|30|1825|09|04}} | death_place = Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British India | citizenship = | spouse = Gulbaai | relations = | children = | alma_mater = University of Bombay | occupation = {{hlist|Indian independence activist|Politician|Merchant|Scholar|Writer}} | profession = | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | website = | term_start = 1892 | term_end = 1895 | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | birth_name = Dadabhai Naoroji Dordi | nickname = Grand Old Man of India }} '''Dadabhai Naoroji''' (4 September 1825 – 30 June 1917) was an Indian political leader, merchant, scholar, and writer who played a role in both Indian and British public life. He was among the founding members of the Indian National Congress and served as its President on three occasions, from 1886 to 1887, 1893 to 1894 and 1906 to 1907. Naoroji's early career included serving as the Diwan of Baroda in 1874. Subsequently, he moved to England, where he continued to advocate for Indian interests. In 1892, he was elected to the House of Commons as a Liberal Party Member of Parliament, representing Finsbury Central until 1895. He was the second person of Asian descent to become a British MP following David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre, who was an Anglo Indian MP.<ref name="Visana 2022">{{Cite book |last=Visana |first=Vikram |title=Uncivil liberalism : labour, capital and commercial society in Dadabhai Naoroji's political thought |date=2022 |isbn=978-1-009-21552-7 |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom |oclc=1343197973}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://sites.google.com/site/jouhsinfo/mukherjee02.pdf |author=Mukherjee, Sumita |title='Narrow-majority' and 'Bow-and-agree': Public Attitudes Towards the Elections of the First Asian MPs in Britain, Dadabhai Naoroji and Mancherjee Merwanjee Bhownaggree, 1885–1906 |journal=Journal of the Oxford University History Society |issue=2 (Michaelmas 2004) }}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="EB1911">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Naoroji, Dadabhai |volume=17 |page=167}}</ref>
Naoroji is particularly known for formulating the "drain theory", which argued that economic exploitation under British rule led to the transfer of wealth from India to Britain. He detailed these views in his 1901 publication ''Poverty and Un-British Rule in India'',<ref name=EB1911/> which contributed to emerging debates on colonial economics and political representation. His work was influential among early nationalists and reformers, and he remained a key figure in shaping early Indian political thought. Naoroji also took part in international socialist networks and was a member of the Second International, alongside figures such as Karl Kautsky and Georgi Plekhanov. While Naoroji himself maintained a moderate stance, his engagement with transnational political groups reflected his broader concern with issues of labour, empire and global inequality.
In later years, Naoroji received posthumous recognition in both India and the United Kingdom. In 2014, the British government introduced the Dadabhai Naoroji Awards, launched by then Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, to honour contributions to UK-India relations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dadabhai-naoroji-awards-presented-for-the-first-time|title=Dadabhai Naoroji Awards presented for the first time – GOV.UK|website=www.gov.uk|access-date=1 June 2017}}</ref> India Post commemorated him with postal stamps issued in 1963, 1997 and 2017.<ref>{{Cite news |date=6 January 2018 |title=India Post Honors Dadabhai Naoroji With Stamp |url=http://parsi-times.com/2018/01/india-post-honors-dadabhai-naoroji-stamp/ |access-date=19 May 2018 |work=Parsi Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://philamirror.info/2017/12/29/india-post-issued-stamp-on-dadabhai-naoroji/|title=India Post Issued Stamp on Dadabhai Naoroji|date=29 December 2017|work=Phila-Mirror|access-date=19 May 2018}}</ref> His legacy continues to be studied in the context of Indian nationalism, colonial critique and the early history of Asian participation in British politics.
==Biography== thumb|left|Naoroji at the age of 20 Naoroji was born in Navsari in a Gujarati-speaking Parsi Zoroastrian family, and educated at the Elphinstone Institute School.<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Dilip Hiro|first=Dilip|last=Hiro|title=The Longest August: The Unflinching Rivalry Between India and Pakistan|date=2015|publisher=Nation Books|isbn=9781568585031|page=9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PpPCBAAAQBAJ&q=Dadabhai+Naoroji%2C+gujarati&pg=PA9|access-date=9 December 2015}}</ref> His patron was the Maharaja of Baroda, Sayajirao Gaekwad III, and he started his career as Dewan (Minister) to the Maharaja in 1874. Being an ''Athornan'' (ordained priest), Naoroji founded the Rahnumai Mazdayasan Sabha (Guides on the Mazdayasne Path) on 1 August 1851 to restore the Zoroastrian religion to its original purity and simplicity. In 1854, he also founded a Gujarati fortnightly publication, the ''Rast Goftar'' (The Truth Teller), to clarify Zoroastrian concepts and promote Parsi social reforms.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bharucha |first1=Nilufer E. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=on1uZNcdsScC&q=dadabhai+naoroji%2C+gujarati&pg=PA62 |title=Shifting Continents/Colliding Cultures: Diaspora Writing of the Indian Subcontinent |publisher=Rodopi |year=2000 |isbn=978-9042012615 |editor-last=Crane |editor-first=Ralph J. |location=Amsterdam |page=62 |chapter=Imagining the Parsi Diaspora: Narratives on the wings of fire |access-date=13 January 2015 |editor-last2=Mohanram |editor-first2=Radhika}}</ref>
Around this time, he also published another newspaper called ''The Voice of India''. In December 1855, he was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in Elphinstone College in Bombay,<ref name="Mistry">Mistry, Sanjay (2007) "Naorojiin, Dadabhai" in Dabydeen, David et al. eds. ''The Oxford Companion of Black British History''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 336–337; {{ISBN|9780199238941}}</ref> becoming the first Indian to hold such an academic position. He travelled to London in 1855 to become a partner in Cama & Co, opening a Liverpool location for the first Indian company to be established in Britain. Within three years, he had resigned on ethical grounds. In 1859, he established his own cotton trading company, Dadabhai Naoroji & Co. In 1861 he also founded The Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe alongside Muncherjee Hormusji Cama.<ref name="Hinnells2005">{{cite book|first=John R. |last=Hinnells|title=The Zoroastrian Diaspora: Religion and Migration|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfO4-5yh7VYC|access-date=19 May 2017|date=2005|publisher=OUP|location= Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-826759-1|page=388}}</ref>
thumb|Dadabhai Naoroji at the age of 41 In 1865, Naoroji directed and launched the London Indian Society, the purpose of which was to discuss Indian political, social and literary subjects.<ref>Fourteenth Annual General Meeting of the British Indian Association, 14 February 1866, p. 22.</ref> In 1867, he also helped to establish the East India Association, one of the predecessor organisations of the Indian National Congress with the aim of putting across the Indian point of view before the British public. The Association was instrumental in counter-acting the propaganda by the Ethnological Society of London which, in its session in 1866, had tried to prove the inferiority of the Asians to the Europeans. This Association soon won the support of eminent Englishmen and was able to exercise considerable influence in the British parliament. The organisation soon had branches in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sequeira|first=Dolly Ellen|title=Total History & Civics 10|publisher=Morning Star|year=2021|editor-last=Raj|editor-first=S. Irudaya|location=Delhi}}</ref>
In 1874, he became Prime Minister of Baroda and was a member of the Legislative Council of Bombay (1885–88). He was also a member of the Indian National Association founded by Sir Surendranath Banerjea from Calcutta a few years before the founding of the Indian National Congress in Bombay, with the same objectives and practices. The two groups later merged into the INC, and Naoroji was elected President of the Congress in 1886. Naoroji published ''Poverty and Un-British Rule in India'' in 1901.<ref name="INC_BritishRaj">{{citation|last=Nanda|first=B. R.|author-link=Bal Ram Nanda|title=Gokhale: The Indian Moderates and the British Raj|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pI19BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA58|series=Legacy Series|year=2015|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-7049-3|page=58|orig-year=1977}}</ref> thumb|Naoroji in 1892 Naoroji moved to Britain once again and continued his political involvement. Elected for the Liberal Party in Finsbury Central at the 1892 general election, he was the first British Indian MP.<ref name="Peters">{{cite news |last=Peters|first=K. J.|title=Indian Patchwork Is Made of Many Colours |work=Aberdeen Journal |date=29 May 1946 |access-date=2 December 2014 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000578/19460529/019/0002| via = British Newspaper Archive}}{{subscription required|date=April 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=26 July 2013 |title=From the archive, 26 July 1892: Britain's first Asian MP elected |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2013/jul/26/election-naoroji-finsbury-1892 |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=2 May 2018 }}</ref> He refused to take the oath on the Bible, as he was Zoroastrian. He was allowed to take the oath of office in the name of God on his copy of the ''Khordeh Avesta''. During his time he put his efforts towards improving the situation in India. He had a very clear vision and was an effective communicator. He set forth his views about the situation in India over the course of the history of the governance of the country and the way in which the colonial rulers rule. In Parliament, he spoke on Irish Home Rule and the condition of the Indian people. He was a notable Freemason.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sunavala |first=Nergish |date=2017-09-03 |title=The Freemasons chamber of secrets in Fort turns 120 |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/the-freemasons-chamber-of-secrets-in-fort-turns-120/articleshow/60344744.cms |access-date=2024-04-30 |work=The Times of India |issn=0971-8257}}</ref>
In 1906, Naoroji was again elected president of the Indian National Congress. He was a staunch moderate within the Congress, during the phase when opinion in the party was split between the moderates and extremists. Such was the respect commanded by him that assertive nationalists could not oppose his candidature and the rift was avoided for the time being. Naoroji's ''Poverty and Un-British Rule in India'' influenced Mahatma Gandhi.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sultan |first=Nazmul S. |date=2022 |title=Moral Empire and the Global Meaning of Gandhi's Anti-imperialism |journal=The Review of Politics |volume=84 |issue=4 |pages=545–569 |language=en |doi=10.1017/S0034670522000560 |s2cid=252029430 |issn=0034-6705|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Visana 2022"/>
=== Lord Salisbury's controversial remarks === Lord Salisbury, the then-Prime Minister, caused controversy in 1888 after Gainsford Bruce had won the Holborn by-election for the Unionists, beating the Liberal Lord Compton. Bruce had won the seat with a smaller majority than Francis Duncan had for the Unionists in 1885. Salisbury explained this by saying in a speech in Edinburgh on 30 November: "But then Colonel Duncan was opposed to a black man, and, however great the progress of mankind has been, and however far we have advanced in overcoming prejudices, I doubt if we have yet got to the point where a British constituency will elect a black man to represent them.... I am speaking roughly and using language in its colloquial sense, because I imagine the colour is not exactly black, but at all events, he was a man of another race."
The "black man" was, in fact, Dadabhai Naoroji. Salisbury's comments were criticised by the Queen and by Liberals who believed that Salisbury had suggested that only white Britons could represent a British constituency. Three weeks later, Salisbury delivered a speech at Scarborough, where he denied that "the word "black" necessarily implies any contemptuous denunciation: "Such a doctrine seems to be a scathing insult to a very large proportion of the human race... The people whom we have been fighting at Suakin, and whom we have happily conquered, are among the finest tribes in the world, and many of them are as black as my hat". Furthermore, "such candidatures are incongruous and unwise. The British House of Commons, with its traditions... is a machine too peculiar and too delicate to be managed by any but those who have been born within these isles". In 1888, the New York Times published an article that was extremely critical of Lord Salisbury's remark. It included the following quotation, "Of course the parsees are not black men, but the purest Aryan type in existence, with an average complexion fairer than Lord Salisbury's; but even if they were ebony hued it would be grotesque and foolish for a Prime Minister of England to insult them in such a wanton fashion as this." <ref>{{Cite news |date=1888-12-09 |title=SALISBURY'S SILLY GIBE; SERIOUS RESULTS FROM IT LOOKED FOR IN INDIA. COMING FIGHTING IN EGYPT--WHAT TO DO THERE--THE PROBABLE NEW MINISTRY IN FRANCE--MILAN'S PERILOUS CONDITION--THE POPE'S FUTURE MOVEMENTS. (Published 1888) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1888/12/09/archives/salisburys-silly-gibe-serious-results-from-it-looked-for-in-india.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20230405142051/https://www.nytimes.com/1888/12/09/archives/salisburys-silly-gibe-serious-results-from-it-looked-for-in-india.html |archive-date=2023-04-05 |access-date=2025-12-07 |language=en}}</ref> Naoroji was later elected for Finsbury in 1892 and Salisbury invited him to become a Governor of the Imperial Institute, which he accepted.
==Personal life and death== He was married to Gulbai at the age of 11. He died in Bombay on 30 June 1917, at the age of 91. The Dadabhai Naoroji Road, a heritage road of Mumbai, is named after him, as are the Dadabhai Naoroji Road in Karachi, Pakistan and Naoroji Street in the Finsbury area of London. A prominent residential colony for central government servants in the south of Delhi is also named Naoroji Nagar. His granddaughters, Perin and Khurshedben, were also involved in the independence movement. In 1930, Khurshedben was arrested along with other revolutionaries for attempting to hoist the Indian flag in a Government College in Ahmedabad.<ref>{{cite news |title= Millionaire's daughter arrested |work=Portsmouth Evening News |date=21 August 1930|access-date=2 December 2014 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000290/19300821/079/0004| via = British Newspaper Archive}}{{subscription required|date=April 2019}}</ref>
==Drain theory and poverty== Naoroji's work focused on the drain of wealth from India to Britain during the period of British rule in India.<ref name="Visana 2022"/><ref name=g1>{{cite journal|doi=10.2307/2051282|jstor=2051282|last1=Kozicki|first1=Richard P.|last2=Ganguli|first2=B. N.|title=Reviewed work: Dadabhai Naoroji and the Drain Theory., B. N. Ganguli|journal=The Journal of Asian Studies|volume=26|issue=4|pages=728–729|year=1967|s2cid=161370569 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Visana|first=Vikram|title=Vernacular Liberalism, Capitalism, and Anti-Imperialism in the Political Thought of Dadabhai Naoroji|date=September 2016|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/historical-journal/article/abs/vernacular-liberalism-capitalism-and-antiimperialism-in-the-political-thought-of-dadabhai-naoroji/C5A6732A37A4C7330ECBDA39C9C2B6F9|journal=The Historical Journal|language=en|volume=59|issue=3|pages=775–797|doi=10.1017/S0018246X15000230|s2cid=155747116|issn=0018-246X|url-access=subscription}}</ref> One of the reasons that the Drain theory is attributed to Naoroji is his decision to estimate the net national profit of India, and by extension, the effect that colonial rule had on the country. Through his work with economics, Naoroji sought to prove that Britain was draining money out of India.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=4357298|author=Raychaudhuri G.S. |title=On Some Estimates of National Income Indian Economy 1858–1947|journal= Economic and Political Weekly |volume=1|issue=16 |year=1966|pages= 673–679}}</ref>
Naoroji described six factors that resulted in the external drain. # India was governed by a foreign government. # India did not attract immigrants who brought labour and capital for economic growth. # India paid for Britain's civil administrations in India and her Indian army in the form of "Home Charges". # India bore the burden of empire building in and out of its borders. # Opening the country to free trade allowed for foreigners to take highly paid jobs over those of equally qualified Indians. # The principal income-earners would spend their money outside of India or leave with the money as they were mostly foreign personnel.<ref name=g2>{{cite journal|doi=10.1177/001946466400200201|last=Ganguli|first= B.N. |title=Dadabhai Naoroji and the Mechanism of 'External Drain' |journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=85–102 |year=1965 |s2cid=145180903 }}</ref>
His book ''Poverty and Un-British Rule in India'' estimated a 200–300 million pounds drain of India's revenue to Britain that was not recirculated into India.<ref name=Banerjee>Banerjee, Sukanya (2010) ''Becoming Imperial Citizens: Indians in the Late Victorian Empire Durham''. Duke University Press; {{ISBN|978-0-8223-4608-1}}</ref>
When referring to the drain, Naoroji stated that he believed some tribute was necessary as payment for the services that Britain brought to India such as the newly constructed railways. However, the money from these services were being drained out of India; for instance the money being earned by the railways did not belong to India, which supported his assessment that India was sending too much to Britain. According to Naoroji, India was paying tribute for something that was not bringing profit to the country directly. Instead of paying off foreign investment, as other countries did, India was paying for services rendered despite the operation of the railway being already profitable for Britain. This type of drain was experienced in different ways as well, for instance, British workers earning wages that were not equal with the work that they have done in India, or trade that undervalued India's goods and overvalued outside goods.<ref name=g1/><ref name=g2/>
British workers in India were encouraged to take on high paying jobs in India, and the British government allowed them to take a portion of their income back to Britain. Furthermore, the East India Company was purchasing Indian goods with money drained from India to export to Britain, which was a way that the opening up of free trade allowed India to be exploited.<ref name=adi>Doctor, Adi H. (1997) ''Political Thinkers of Modern India''. New Delhi Mittal Publications; {{ISBN|978-8170996613}}</ref>
When elected to Parliament by a narrow margin of five votes, his first speech was devoted to the issue of questioning Britain's role in India. Naoroji explained that Indians would either be British subjects or their slaves, depending on how willing Britain was to give India control over the institutions that Britain presently operated. By giving these institutions to India it would allow India to govern itself and as a result all revenue would stay in India.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1177/026272809901900201|title=Modernity, Democracy and a Political Negotiation of Death|journal=South Asia Research|volume=19|issue=2|pages=103–119|year=1999|last1=Chatterjee|first1=Partha|s2cid=144967482}}</ref>
[[File:Cornelis Gerardus Leenheer, Afb OSIM00008005484.jpg|thumb|Naoroji (fourth from right) at the International Socialist Congress, Amsterdam 1904]]
Naoroji identified himself as a fellow subject of the Empire and was able to address the economic hardships facing India to a British audience. By presenting himself as an imperial subject he was able to use rhetoric to show the benefit to Britain that an ease of financial burden on India would have. He argued that by allowing the money earned in India to stay in India, tributes would be willingly and easily paid without fear of poverty; he argued that this could be done by giving equal employment opportunities to Indian professionals who were consistently forced to take jobs that they were over-qualified for. Indian labour would be more likely to spend their income within India preventing one aspect of the drain.<ref name=Banerjee/>
Naoroji also found it important to examine Anglo-Indian trade to prevent the premature dissolution of budding industries to unfair valuing of goods and services.<ref name=adi/> By allowing industry to grow and develop in India, tribute could be paid to Britain in the form of taxation and the increase in Indian interest for British goods. Over time, Naoroji became more inflammatory in his comments as he began to lose patience with Britain over the seemingly lack of progress regarding reforms. He rhetorically questioned whether or not the British government would be willing to award French youths all the high ranking posts in the British economy. He also pointed to historical examples of Britain being opposed to the "wealth drain" concept, including the English objection to the wealth drain to the papacy during the 1500s.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Chandra, Bipan|title=Indian Nationalists and the Drain, 1880—1905|journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review|volume=2|issue=2|pages=103–144|doi=10.1177/001946466400200202|year=1965|s2cid=143869246}}</ref>
Naoroji's work on the drain theory was the main reason behind the creation of the Royal Commission on Indian Expenditure in 1896 in which he was also a member. This commission reviewed financial burdens on India and in some cases came to the conclusion that those burdens were misplaced.<ref>Chishti, M. Anees ed. (2001) ''Committees And Commissions in Pre-Independence India 1836–1947 Volume 2: 1882–1895''. New Delhi Mittal Publications; {{ISBN|9788170998020}}</ref>
==Views and legacy== [[File:HumeWedderburnNaoroji.jpg|thumb|Left to right: Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji, and William Wedderburn, all founders of the Indian National Congress]] {{Liberalism in India|Intellectuals}} Dadabhai Naoroji is regarded as one of the most important Indians during the birth of the nascent independence movement. In his writings, he came to the conclusion that the exertion of foreign rule over India was not favourable for the nation, and that independence (or at the very least, responsible government) would be the better path for India.
{{blockquote|Further development was checked by the frequent invasions of India by, and the subsequent continuous rule of, foreigners of entirely different character and genius, who, not having any sympathy with the indigenous literature – on the contrary, having much fanatical antipathy to the religion of the Hindus – prevented its further growth. Priest-hood, first for power and afterwards from ignorance, completed the mischief, as has happened in all other countries.<ref>"Transactions of the Ethnological Society of London", p. 9</ref>}}
Naoroji is often remembered as the "Grand Old Man of Indian Nationalism."
Mahatma Gandhi wrote to Naoroji in 1894, saying that "The Indians look up to you as children to the father. Such is really the feeling here."<ref>Bakshi, Shiri Ram (1988) ''Gandhi and Indians in South Africa''. p. 37.</ref>
Bal Gangadhar Tilak admired him; he said:
{{blockquote|If we 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 that post.<ref>Pasricha, Ashu (1998) ''Encyclopedia Eminent Thinkers''. Vol. 11: The Political Thought of Dadabhai Naoroji. Concept Publishing Company. p. 30. {{ISBN|9788180694912}}</ref>}}
Here are the significant extracts taken from his speech delivered before the East India Association on 2 May 1867 regarding what educated Indians expect from their British rulers:
{{blockquote|The difficulties thrown in the way of according to the natives such reasonable share and voice in the administration of the country as they are able to take, are creating some uneasiness and distrust. The universities are sending out hundreds and will soon begin to send out thousands of educated natives. This body naturally increases in influence...}}
"In this Memorandum I desire to submit for the kind and generous consideration of His Lordship the Secretary of State for India, that from the same cause of the deplorable drain [of economic wealth from India to Britain], besides the material exhaustion of India, the moral loss to her is no less sad and lamentable . . . All [the Europeans] effectually do is to eat the substance of India, material and moral, while living there, and when they go, they carry away all they have acquired . . . The thousands [of Indians] that are being sent out by the universities every year find themselves in a most anomalous position. There is no place for them in their motherland . . . What must be the inevitable consequence? . . . despotism and destruction . . . or destroying hand and power. "
A plaque referring to Dadabhai Naoroji is located outside the Finsbury Town Hall on Rosebery Avenue, London. On 10 August 2022 English Heritage unveiled a blue plaque in his honour at the site of his former home,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-05-05 |title=Dadabhai Naoroji's London and Bombay |url=https://dinyarpatel.com/naoroji/london-bombay/ |access-date=2022-08-06 |website=Dinyar Patel |language=en}}</ref> 72, Anerley Park, Bromley, London where he lived between 1897 – 1904 or 1905.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dadabhai Naoroji {{!}} Indian Nationalist and MP {{!}} Blue Plaques |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/dadabhai-naoroji/ |access-date=2022-08-10 |website=English Heritage}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=First Indian to win a popular election to the UK Parliament receives Blue Plaque |url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/about-us/search-news/pr-naoroji-blue-plaque/ |access-date=2022-08-10 |website=English Heritage}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-08-10 |title=Bromley home of UK's first Indian MP fitted with blue plaque |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/aug/10/dadabhai-naoroji-blue-plaque-bromley-home-uk-indian-mp |access-date=2022-08-10 |newspaper=The Guardian |first=Aamna |last=Mohdin|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-08-04 |title=Dadabhai Naoroji's London home to get Blue Plaque: A look at the history of this honour |url=https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/dadabhai-naorojis-london-home-to-get-blue-plaque-a-look-at-the-history-of-this-honour-11009181.html |access-date=2022-08-06 |website=Firstpost |language=en}}</ref>
==Works== * Started the Rast Goftar Anglo-Gujarati Newspaper in 1854. * {{cite wikisource |year=1861 |title=The Parsee Religion |publisher=University of London}} * {{cite wikisource |year=1862 |title=The Manners and Customs of the Parsees |location=Bombay}} * {{cite wikisource |year=1866|The European and Asiatic Races |location=London}} * ''Admission of educated natives into the Indian Civil Service'' (London, 1868) * ''The wants and means of India'' (London, 1876) * ''Condition of India'' (Madras, 1882) * ''Poverty of India'' Bombay, Ranima Union Press (1876). : A Paper Read Before the Bombay Branch of the East India Association. * C. L. Parekh, ed., ''Essays, Speeches, Addresses and Writings of the Honourable Dadabhai Naoroji,'' Bombay, Caxton Printing Works (1887). An excerpt, "The Benefits of British Rule", in a modernised text by J. S. Arkenberg, ed., on line at [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1871britishrule.html Paul Halsall, ed., ''Internet Modern History Sourcebook''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100822000805/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1871britishrule.html |date=22 August 2010 }}. * ''Lord Salisbury's Blackman'' (Lucknow, 1889) * {{cite book |title=Poverty and Un-British Rule in India |author=Dadabhai Naoroji |year=1901 |publisher=Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India |url=https://archive.org/details/povertyandunbri00naorgoog |quote=}}; "Poverty and Un-British Rule in India" Commonwealth Publishers, 1988. {{ISBN|81-900066-2-2}}
==Commemorative postage stamps== Naoroji has been portrayed on commemorative stamps released by India Post (by year): {{multiple image | align = center | direction = horizontal | image_gap = 75 | header =
| image1 = Dadabhai Naoroji 1963 stamp of India.jpg | width1 = 180 | alt1 = | caption1 = 1963
| image2 =Dadabhai Naoroji 1993 stamp of India.jpg | width2 = 280 | alt2 = | caption2 = 1993
| image3 =Dadabhai Naoroji 2017 stamp of India.jpg | width3 = 380 | alt3 = | caption3 = 2017 }}
==See also== * Electoral firsts in the United Kingdom
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==Further reading== {{Refbegin|2}} * Vikram Visana, Uncivil Liberalism: Labour, Capital, and Commercial Society in Dadabhai Naoroji's Political Thought, Cambridge University Press (2022). * Rustom P. Masani, ''Dadabhai Naoroji'' (1939). * Munni Rawal, ''Dadabhai Naoroji, Prophet of Indian Nationalism, 1855–1900'', New Delhi: Anmol Publications (1989). * S. R. Bakshi, ''Dadabhai Naoroji: The Grand Old Man'', Anmol Publications (1991). {{ISBN|81-7041-426-1}} * Verinder Grover, ''Dadabhai Naoroji: A Biography of His Vision and Ideas'', New Delhi: Deep & Deep Publishers (1998). {{ISBN|81-7629-011-4}} * Debendra Kumar Das, ed., ''Great Indian Economists : Their Creative Vision for Socio-Economic Development''. Vol. I: ''Dadabhai Naoroji (1825–1917): Life Sketch and Contribution to Indian Economy''. New Delhi: Deep and Deep (2004). {{ISBN|81-7629-315-6}} * P. D. Hajela, ''Economic Thoughts of Dadabhai Naoroji'', New Delhi: Deep & Deep (2001). {{ISBN|81-7629-337-7}} * Pash Nandhra, entry ''Dadabhai Naoroji'' in Brack et al. (eds).''Dictionary of Liberal History''; Politico's, 1998 * Zerbanoo Gifford, ''Dadabhai Naoroji: Britain's First Asian MP''; Mantra Books, 1992 * Codell, J. "Decentering & Doubling Imperial Discourse in the British Press: D. Naoroji & M. M. Bhownaggree", ''Media History'' 15 (Fall 2009), 371–84. * Metcalf and Metcalf, ''Concise History of India'' * Vikram Visana, "Vernacular Liberalism, Capitalism, and Anti-Imperialism in the Political Thought of Dadabhai Naoroji", ''The Historical Journal'' 59, 3 (2016), 775–797. {{Refend}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Dadabhai Naoroji}} {{wikiquote}} {{wikisource|works=by}} * {{Rayment-hc|external links=y|date=March 2012}} * [http://www.vohuman.org/Article/Dr.%20Dadabhai%20Naoroji.htm "Dr Dadabhai Naoroji, 'The Grand Old Man of India{{'"}}], Vohuman.org – Presents a complete chronology of Naoroji's life. * {{NPG name}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Dadabhai Naoroji}} * {{Librivox author |id=8942}} * B. Shantanu, [http://www.ivarta.com/columns/OL_060206.htm#_edn5 "Drain of Wealth during British Raj"], ''iVarta.com,'' 6 February 2006. * {{hansard-contribs | mr-dadabhai-naoroji | Dadabhai Naoroji }}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{s-bef |before=Frederick Thomas Penton }} {{s-ttl |title=MP for Finsbury Central |years=1892–1895 }} {{s-aft |after=William Frederick Barton<br />Massey-Mainwaring }} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef |rows=2 |before=Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee }} {{s-ttl |title=President of the Indian National Congress |years=1886 }} {{s-aft |after=Badruddin Tyabji }} {{s-ttl |title=President of the Indian National Congress |years=1893 }} {{s-aft |after=Alfred Webb }} {{s-bef |before=Gopal Krishna Gokhale }} {{s-ttl |title=President of the Indian National Congress |years=1906 }} {{s-aft |after=Rash Behari Ghosh }} {{S-end}}
{{portal bar|Biography|India|United Kingdom|British Empire|Liberalism}} {{India House}} {{Indian National Congress}} {{Indian Independence Movement}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naoroji, Dadabhai}} Category:India House Category:1825 births Category:1917 deaths Category:19th-century Indian politicians Category:Academics of University College London Category:British people of Parsi descent Category:British Zoroastrians Category:Businesspeople from Mumbai Category:Elphinstone College alumni Category:Indian emigrants to England Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Maharashtra Category:Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:Parsi people Category:Parsi people from Mumbai Category:Politicians from Mumbai Category:Presidents of the Indian National Congress Category:UK MPs 1892–1895 Category:Zoroastrian studies scholars Category:Indian Freemasons Category:Indian independence movement