1298 Dabadhai Naoroji

Constituency : Finsbury  Central 1892-5

There  was  no  doubting  who  the  most  exotic  of  the  new  Liberals  was. Dabadhai  squeezed  in  at  Finsbury  by  just  5  votes. He  was  already  in  his  late  sixties. His  campaign  was  supported  by  Keir  Hardie  and  Florence  Nightingale.

Dabadhai  was a  Parsi  born  in  Mumbai. He  was  educated  at  the  Elphinstone  Institute.  He  was  a  Zoroastrian  purist. He  became  a  Maths  professor  at  Elphinstone. He  came  to  Britain  in  1855  where  he  founded  cotton  companies. He  subsequently  became  professor  of  Gujarati  at  University  College, London. In  1867  he  founded  the   East  India  Association  to  put  an  Indian  perspective  before  the  British  public. In 1874  he  became  Prime  Minister  of  Baroda. He  joined  the  Indian  National  Association. When  it  was  subsumed  in  the  Indian  National  Congress  he  became  President  in  1886. That  year  he  stood  in  Holborn. In  1888  Salisbury  commented  that  English  constituencies  were  not  ready  to  elect  "a  Blackman".  Dadadhai  used  this  remark  to  his  advantage  in  1892.

Dabadhai  took  the  parliamentary  oath  on  a  Zoroastrian  text. He  identified  himself  as  an  Imperial  citizen  and  claimed  that  tributes  would  be  more  willingly  and  easily  paid  if  money  was  allowed  to  stay  in  India. In  particular  Indian  professionals  needed  more  employment  opportunities  and  industrial  development  needed  to  be  encouraged. Nearly  all  his  Parliamentary  contributions  were  about  India.

Dabadhai  supported  Home  Rule, free  education, public  housing  and  female  suffrage,

In  1893  Dabadhai  was  elected  president  of  the  I.N.C. again. He  became  known  as  the  "Grand  Old  Man of  India".

Dabadhai  was  defeated  in  1895. Despite  that  he  was  appointed  to  the  Royal  Commission  on  Indian  Expenditure  the  following  year. His  agitation  had  been  the  main  reason  it  was  established.

Dabadhai  was  a  moderate  on  the  I.N.C.  In  1901  he  published  Poverty  and  un-British  Rule  in  India  in  which  he  expounded  his  drain  theory  that  Britain  drained  money  out  of  India. Free Trade  allowed  foreign  personnel  to  take  highly  paid  jobs  and  then  take  their  wealth  out  of  the  country. He  likened  it  to  vampirism. India  was  paying  tribute  for  services  such  as  the  railways  which  were  already  profitable  to  Britain. Indian  goods  and  services  were  undervalued. As  time  went  on  Dadhai  became  more  impatient.

Dabadhai  stood  in  Lambeth  North  in  1906  but  was  unsuccessful. He  retired  to  India  the  following  year.

He  died  in  1917  aged  91.