Dadabhai Naoroji

The "Grand Old Man of India," who put forward the drain theory and was the first Asian elected to the British House of Commons.

Life

Parsi professor

Naoroji came from a Parsi family in Bombay and was a professor of mathematics; he later did business in London and spent many years in Britain campaigning for India's rights.

Drain theory

Through statistical research he put forward the drain theory, arguing that Britain transferred vast wealth from India to Britain through administrative costs, military spending, interest and trade, and that this was the root of India's poverty; he wrote Poverty and Un-British Rule in India. In 1892 he was elected to the British House of Commons for Finsbury in London, the first Asian to enter the British Parliament.

British MP

He served three times as President of the Indian National Congress, and in 1906 he first proposed the goal of "self-government" (swaraj) at the Congress's annual session. He died in 1917.

Legacy

Naoroji's "drain theory" provided the economic foundation for the Indian national movement, and he was revered as the "Grand Old Man of India."

Major works & achievements

• Poverty and Un-British Rule in India

Did you know? He was elected to Parliament by a margin of only five votes, earning him the nickname "Mr. Narrow Majority."

Key dates

• 1855Went to London to do business
• 1885Helped found the Indian National Congress
• 1892Elected to the British House of Commons
• 1901Published Poverty and Un-British Rule in India
• 1906Put forward the goal of self-rule
• 1917Died