Dadabhai Naoroji.pdf

# Dadabhai Naoroji India was passing through one of the darkest periods of its history during Dadabhai Naoroji's lifetime. The British were extending and consolidating their stranglehold on India. The Indian rajas and maharajas who, traditionally, provided leadership against foreign aggression, had...

# Dadabhai Naoroji India was passing through one of the darkest periods of its history during Dadabhai Naoroji's lifetime. The British were extending and consolidating their stranglehold on India. The Indian rajas and maharajas who, traditionally, provided leadership against foreign aggression, had been completely subjugated. The Indian people, their economic and social life at its lowest ebb, their spirit broken, had resigned themselves to their fate. The country was being bled white, without a whimper from the people, as if under the spell of anaesthesia. Unlike the earlier invaders of India, the British did not come in hordes, marauding and plundering. They quietly entered through trade channels. Taking advantage of the mutual rivalries of the local rulers, aiding and abetting one against the other, the British had grabbed the whole country and held it as their property. To get rich quick at the cost of India was their only aim. The methods of exploitation employed by them were too subtle for the innocent Indians to understand, and too numerous. In addition, the British, with their different looks, dress, language and culture, maintained a separate and superior identity, as if born to rule. To add insult to injury, they contemptuously called the Indians 'kala admi' (black man) and considered them uncivilized and inferior in character and intelligence. At such a time there appeared on the scene Dadabhai Naoroji, who provided selfless and sustained leadership to the nation. On the one hand he roused the people from their slumber, and on the other, raised a voice of protest against the continued exploitation of the country by the British, and the continued poverty of the people. The story of Dadabhai's life is a saga of selfless devotion to the motherland, a peerless patriot. ## Early Life Dadabhai was born on September 4, 1825, in a poor, priestly, Parsi family in Bombay. His father, Naoroji Palanji Dordi, died when Dadabhai was about four years old. His mother, Maneckbai, toiled hard to bring him up. Though illiterate herself, she gave Dadabhai the best English education and imparted to him a noble character. At school Dadabhai displayed exceptional intelligence and skill in mental arithmetic. Being fair-complexioned, good-looking and slender in build, he caught everyone's notice. Elders often called him 'Jonglo' (Englishman). Dadabhai received his higher education at the Elphinstone Institution (now College) at Bombay. At college also he made a mark with his extraordinary intelligence and distinguished himself in English and Mathematics. Professor Orlebar, one of his teachers, called him 'the promise of India'. Sir Erskine Perry, the then Chief Justice of Bombay and the President of the Board of Education, impressed by his performance at studies, offered to pay half of the expenses if Dadabhai was sent to England for higher studies. But Parsi elders, who were to bear the other half, turned down the offer, fearing that in England he might get converted to Christianity and marry an English girl, like many other young men of his time who had earlier gone to England. After completion of his education, Dadabhai got the job of the Head Native Assistant Master at the Elphinstone Institution. Soon he was promoted to Assistant Professor and two years later, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy—the first Indian to hold this post. Dadabhai considered it the greatest event of his career. ## Reformer Having settled in a comfortable career, Dadabhai turned his attention to social reform. He believed in the equality of men and women. Observing that the backwardness of Indian women was due to the illiteracy prevailing among them, he started his work with women's education. With the help of the Students' Literary and Scientific Society of the Elphinstone Institution, Dadabhai began free literacy classes for girls in Marathi and Gujarati on August 4, 1849. But he met with formidable resistance from the orthodox people. They refused to send their girls to the classes to save them from the 'corrupting' influence of education. It took him months of patient persuasion, of going from door to door, to collect enough girls initially. In due course people realized the benefits of women's education and provided suitable buildings for two girls' schools. Dadabhai and his volunteers worked as honorary teachers in these schools. The rich Cama family provided the finance for two years. Thereafter the public took over the financing and management of these schools, and opened more such. Education for girls came to be accepted as a norm. This pioneering work of Dadabhai and his dedicated volunteers was highly appreciated. The Governor of Bombay applauded it as "an epoch in the history of education in the Bombay Presidency". Dadabhai also fought against many other injustices then prevailing against women. For the education of adult menfolk, Dadabhai established the Dnyan Prasarak Mandali (Society for Promotion of Knowledge). Topics of general awareness were discussed before large gatherings, in local languages. Lectures on subjects of popular science, accompanied with demonstrations, drew large audiences. In a few years there was a perceptible change in the general awareness of the people and a transformation in their ideas and way of life. Dadabhai’s social work was not confined to education alone. He founded the Widow Remarriage Association, the Parsi Gymnasium, the Irani Fund, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Framji Cowasji Institute, and a network of Temperance Societies all over the country. He helped these organizations in their activities by personal involvement and guidance, donations and by collecting funds from other sources. To foster his reform movement and for spread of progressive ideas, Dadabhai founded on November 15, 1851, a fortnightly, Rast Guftar (Truth Teller) in Gujarati. The finance for it came from his friend, Khurshedji Nusserwanji Cama, and Dadabhai worked for it without remuneration. The paper carried no advertisements and was initially distributed free of cost. In later years Dadabhai started some more journals as and when he felt there was a need. ## In Politics The East India Company worked in India on a twenty-year Charter (lease), granted by the British Government in England. The Charter issued to the Company in 1833 was to expire in 1853. In 1852 the Company applied for its renewal. The educated Indians, who held the Company responsible for the miseries of India, decided to oppose the request for extension. Despite his government service, Dadabhai played a leading role in organizing a large meeting at the Elphinstone Institution. On August 26, 1852, the Bombay Association—the first political organization in Bombay Presidency—was formed. A strong petition, opposing the renewal of the Charter, was sent to the British Government in England. Though the petition could not stop the renewal of the Charter, it did create a stir in England. Many right-thinking English leaders spoke and wrote in support of India’s demands. It dispelled a lot of ignorance about India in England. Dadabhai learnt that organized, intelligent agitation paid dividends. This was his first taste of politics, and Dadabhai—the academician, turned into Dadabhai—the politician. ## Analysis of Ills Dadabhai felt that all the ills of India, like poverty, ignorance, famines and so on were due to the British misrule. But their misrule was not deliberate, because, as he had read in books, the British were a fair-minded and justice-loving people. The harm to India was done by their ignorance of the Indian way of life and the needs of the Indian people. In his maiden speech before the Bombay Association, Dadabhai, therefore, said, "Under the British Government we do not suffer any great zoolum... Whatever evil we have to complain of, originates from one cause, namely, the ignorance of European officers, coming fresh from home." As a corrective he demanded small concessions such as Indians be appointed to higher posts and be involved in administration and legislation; the competitive examinations for the Indian Civil Service (I.C.S.) be held in India and England simultaneously; Indian students be given scholarships for training in England; and, the expenditure of Indian administration be reduced and England bear the share of expenditure which was legitimately theirs. Dadabhai had to put up a long struggle for extracting such concessions, which may appear insignificant today. As a remedy, Dadabhai had a threefold programme in mind: a) to educate the Indian masses and to make them conscious of their rights. In this direction he had already made a start through his educational and other programmes; b) to educate the British bureaucracy in India about the problems of India. For this purpose he wrote petitions to the Governors and the Viceroys against all their wrong policies and explaining to them what was beneficial for India; and c) to educate the British public and their Parliament (which appointed and controlled the Government of India) about the problems of India. This required a long stay in England, which a man of Dadabhai’s means could not afford to do. At this juncture, the Cama family’s decision to set up a business firm in England, and to take Dadabhai as a partner, came as a windfall. To the dismay of everyone, he readily resigned his Professorship and accepted the Camas’ offer. Principal Harkness, taking it as Dadabhai’s preference for money, exclaimed, “Dadabhai, what a fall!” But for Dadabhai a comfortable career and everything else was secondary to the country’s cause. What people might have taken as his preference for money was, in fact, a self-imposed exile for the sake of the motherland. Leaving his young wife, Gulbai, and children to the care of his old mother and a friend, Dadabhai sailed for England on June 27, 1855. Besides educating the British, another important aim in Dadabhai’s going to England was to take care of the Indian students who went there for higher studies and for competing for the I.C.S. Away from home, in a vastly different climatic and social environment, these youngsters faced many hardships. Dadabhai acted as their guide and guardian. He not only looked after their physical comforts but also kept them together and cultivated in them a national pride. Mahatma Gandhi, when he went to England for his Bar-at-Law degree in 1888, sought his guardianship. Says Mahatma Gandhi of Dadabhai, "...Indeed, he was in the place of father to every one of the Indian students... And so Dadabhai became a real 'dada' to me." The business was smooth and profitable. But to Dadabhai’s dislike, Cama & Co. was also trading in articles like opium and liquor which, in his opinion, ruined the consumers and their families. Dadabhai could not persuade himself to pocket the profits from such a trade. He, therefore, parted company with the Camas. In 1859 he set up the Dadabhai Naoroji & Co. in England. Here he could follow his own standards of honesty and morality. He proved to the world that one can become rich through honesty and without dealing in things like opium and liquor. Once, with the cessation of the Civil War in America, most business enterprises in England collapsed. Those who owed large sums to Dadabhai, could not pay him. Still Dadabhai cleared not only his own liabilities but even those of others for whom he had stood surety. Though in this way, he brought ruin on himself, he earned a name for honesty and character. With the help of friends his business picked up, and he became rich again. ## India Calling By and by his patriotic work occupied the better part of Dadabhai’s time; and his business receded into the background. For some time he tried to run it with the help of his managers, but ultimately, in 1881, he had to close it down. From 1855 to 1907 Dadabhai lived alternately in England and India, more for the sake of his patriotic pursuits than for his family or business. In England he wanted to create an awareness about India among the people and the Members of Parliament, and to win friends and sympathizers for it. For this purpose he joined several learned societies and earnestly participated in their activities. He delivered speeches and wrote articles in their journals and newspapers about Indian problems. Dadabhai also founded some new societies like the London Indian Society in 1865 and the East India Association on December 1, 1866. The latter had members who had retired as high ranking officers from India. Some of them were now Members of Parliament or had access to them. Through the activities of these associations Dadabhai could win many friends for India, inside and outside Parliament. Through them he was able to oppose any measure that was likely to harm the interests of India, or Indian students in England or Indians in South Africa. Frequently he got questions tabled and discussions raised in Parliament about Indian problems. Finding the East India Association more active and useful, Dadabhai set up its branches at Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. In his bold criticism of the British, Dadabhai held them responsible for the poverty and ignorance in India, and even for its famines and plagues, because they did not take preventive measures. He asserted that the British ruled India not for Indians. Also they did not rule over India as they ruled in Britain. Dadabhai acted as an unofficial ambassador of India and never let anything said against India go uncontradicted. The first success for Dadabhai came when, in 1866, the Secretary of State for India had to agree to appoint to the I.C.S., nine Indians out of sixty, by nomination. It was a triumph for Dadabhai, although appointment by nomination was not to his liking. ## Dewan For the many organizations that Dadabhai had set up, he had often to go round on fund-raising missions. He even approached the rulers of Indian states for this purpose. Dadabhai was popular among them because he often gave them informal advice on their affairs. Some of the rulers gave him liberal donations. One of them, Mulharrao Gaekwar, the Maharaja of Baroda, was always in trouble because of his misrule and nefarious deeds. The Government had appointed an Inquiry Commission to go into his misdeeds. Feeling that none except Dadabhai could help him out, the Maharaja appointed him his Dewan (Prime Minister) in 1874. Dadabhai accepted the office very reluctantly. The British Resident at Baroda did not like Dadabhai, and started sending to the Government baseless, adverse reports against Dadabhai. Rather than taking any action against Dadabhai, the Government admonished the Resident and transferred him from Baroda. Such was the high esteem in which Dadabhai was held by the British Government, whose rule he had always criticized. In a year’s time Dadabhai cleaned up and reformed the whole administration of Baroda and brought about all-round honesty and efficiency. Now that the threat of the inquiry had receded, the wily Maharaja and his scheming courtiers started feeling ill at ease under the strict discipline and honesty imposed by the Dewan. Sensing the feelings of the Maharaja, Dadabhai resigned the Dewanship in 1875 and left for Bombay. In a couple of days he got the news that the Maharaja, who had been secretly rejoicing at the departure of Dadabhai, had been dethroned and arrested. Before going back to England Dadabhai joined the Bombay Municipal Corporation in 1875 as an elected member and was also elected to its Finance Committee. During his short stay there, he earned the gratitude of the Corporation by effecting a large saving in expenditure on the new waterworks and in payment of interest on loans. ## The 'Drain Theory' Dadabhai had a special talent for mathematics, money and public finance. Putting in years of hard work in collecting statistics, he propounded his Drain Theory which, in brief, states: the inevitable consequence of foreign domination is the drain of wealth of the subject nation to the country of the rulers. Dadabhai, therefore, held the British Government of India squarely responsible for the grinding poverty of India, and further said that this impoverishment was increasing every year. He proved that the average annual income of an Indian was barely Rs. 20 and that the taxation was high. Though sunk in poverty, India was loaded with the 'lordliest and costliest' administration in the world. He cited the example of the Prime Minister of England who was paid a salary of Rs. 5,000 per month while the Governor-General of India was paid Rs. 20,000 per month, out of the Indian exchequer. Examining the import and export figures for 37 years, Dadabhai proved that India’s exports exceeded its imports by Rs. 50 crores annually. But this money was never paid to India. On the contrary, India was always shown in a state of deficit. He laid bare to the British people and the world, all the cunning methods employed by the rulers to carry away India’s wealth. On Dadabhai’s insistence, a Select Committee of both Houses of Parliament was appointed to look into the administration of India. But it came to nought with the premature dissolution of Parliament. Dadabhai was getting disillusioned with the 'justice-loving' British. In one of his writings he said, "England has, in reality, been the most disastrous and destructive foreign invader of India." Frustrated, he wrote to the Secretary of State for India, "Failure to redress (the grievances) would drive the people to a boycott, not only of the British wares but of the British rule." How prophetic it proved later! The British paid no heed to Dadabhai’s entreaties and warnings. On the contrary, their attitude hardened. To place the evils of the British rule before the world, Dadabhai compiled all his papers, petitions and statements into a big book and got it published in England, under the title: Poverty and the Un-British Rule in India. This monumental book is still read with interest by students of Indian economics. ## Indian National Congress The most important event in India’s freedom struggle was the foundation of the Indian National Congress by A. O. Hume in 1885. Dadabhai helped in its establishment and was one of its founder members. The Congress took the country by storm, swiftly promoting unity and a sense of nationalism among the people. The freedom movement, so far limited to a few educated leaders, became a people’s struggle; that is what Dadabhai had so long been working for. From then onwards, whether in India or in England, the Congress was always in Dadabhai’s thoughts. He nourished it through its infancy, defended it against criticism and guarded it against divisive tendencies. He presided over three sessions of the Congress: in 1886 (Calcutta), 1893 (Lahore) and 1906 (Calcutta). In 1906 the Congress was in real danger of splitting into two, because of the emergence of a militant group within it. Dadabhai was specially called from England to preside over the session at Calcutta to save a breakup. With his mature wisdom he kept the Congress together. It was at this session that he demanded 'Swaraj' or self-rule for India for the first time from the Congress platform. He said, "Good government could never be a substitute for government by the people themselves... We do not ask for any favour, we want only justice. The whole matter can be compressed into one word, self-government or 'Swaraj'... Swaraj is the only remedy for India’s ills." ## Member of Parliament Many might have considered it audacious on the part of Dadabhai when, in 1886, he contested the election to the House of Commons from the Holborn constituency of London. However, it was a proud day for Dadabhai, for India and for the Liberal Party when, in 1892, he was declared elected from Central Finsbury—the first Indian member of the Imperial Parliament, on the British votes! It was like bearding the lion in his own den. There was jubilation in India as well as in England. This was a practical proof of the liberality of the British people and the popularity of Dadabhai in England. The House of Commons, where hitherto his friends projected his ideas, Dadabhai was now present himself to fight his own battles. Soon he established himself as a mature parliamentarian and won the respect of the members of the ruling party as well as the opposition. He spoke forcefully on matters relating to currency, exchange, money and finance, especially where they related to India. He fought for Indians in South Africa and for Indian students in England. Even though he belonged to the opposition, he surprised the Government by getting a resolution passed for holding the preliminary examination for the I.C.S. simultaneously in India and England. A bigger achievement was to get appointed in 1895, a Royal Commission on Indian expenditure, the Wilby Commission, for the judicious apportionment of administrative and military expenditure between England and India. He was made a member of this Commission, the first Indian to work in this capacity. He presented his views to the Commission in two lengthy statements and also gave evidence as a witness. In his oral evidence Dadabhai boldly said that people in India did not want any British officers below the Viceroy, the Governors and the Commander-in-Chief; and in due course the Indians would get rid of them, too. Dadabhai forcefully drove home the inequities that India suffered in sharing of expenditure with England. The Government accepted the findings of the Commission and started correcting its financial malpractices in India. After his election to Parliament, when Dadabhai came to India to preside over the Lahore session of the Congress in 1893, he received a hero’s welcome at the Bombay port. The Governor of Bombay was the first to greet him. Tumultuous crowds greeted him with garlands at every station from Bombay to Lahore and back, whatever the hour of the train’s arrival. After presiding over the Calcutta session of the Congress in December 1906, Dadabhai left for England. Reaching England on February 8, 1907, he got an attack of bronchitis, which persisted. On the advice of his doctors and his British friends, he retired from active public life, reluctantly though, as his crusade for self-rule had just begun. On October 12, 1907, Dadabhai bade farewell to England. Back in India, he settled down at his house in Versova, Bombay. In his native climate, he soon recovered from his illness. His mind and pen became active once again. ## In Retirement Till his last days, Dadabhai’s home was a place of pilgrimage for the leaders and the laity alike. He was visited by the Indian leaders and even the British Governors and Viceroys. He was consulted on all important political and economic issues relating to India. His interest in the Congress affairs never waned. Everyday Dadabhai received a heavy mail from within India and abroad. It was a bewildering variety of requests for guidance, appeals for help, sharing of information and ideas, greetings and what not. He replied to all letters in his own handwriting so long as he could write. It was, thus, a peaceful yet active retirement. Looking back, we see how from a poor beginning, Dadabhai rose to national and international eminence. He was a philanthropist, a social reformer, a pioneer in women’s education, and, above all, a great patriot. In veneration he was universally known as the ‘Grand Old Man of India’. Dadabhai’s patriotism was born out of his spontaneous love for his motherland. It was a selfless love. He sacrificed his career and business for the sake of his country. For many years he had to leave his family unattended. His mother and his only son died when he was fighting the country’s battles in distant England. His daughter’s marriage had to be performed in his absence. Dadabhai’s methods for attaining freedom for his country were non-violent and constitutional. His fight was sophisticated and generated no bitterness. Even those he fought against gave him the utmost respect. They took no action against him even when he asked for Swaraj. Dadabhai was responsible for the establishment of some 30 voluntary organizations in India and England, for the achievement of his objectives. He believed in perseverance and was undaunted by setbacks and reverses. The obstinacy of the British was well matched by Dadabhai’s doggedness. In grateful appreciation of his selfless service to the nation, the people of Bombay presented to Dadabhai, on July 3, 1869, an address and a purse of Rs. 30,000, which he donated to the East India Association. Though belated, the Bombay University conferred on him an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws in 1916. Dadabhai’s ceaseless struggle was bearing fruit. Administrative and political reforms, known as the _[insert reform name]_ were being implemented. His constant reminders to the public to be self-sufficient and work towards a better future had finally started showing results.