Special Feature
Death Centenary
of Dadabhai Naoroji, 30th June
Dadabhai
Naoroji
The
man who brought statistics into politics
*PRIYADARSHI
DUTTA
Dadabhai
Naoroji (1825-1917) – one of the makers of modern India- passed away on June
30, 1917. His death centenary is an apt occasion to revisit his legacy. Two
features of his long and distinguished career stand out prominently a)
sustained advocacy of Indian cause abroad and b) use of statistics to shape
public discourse. He was the first Indian to be elected to the House of Commons
(1892). He formulated the famous drain-of-wealth theory, which became India’s cornerstone
argument against the British rule. In his late years, he was the first to give
expression to the demand for Swaraj from platform of Indian National
Congress (1906). He served the cause of India’s political emancipation for six
decades.
Born
in Bombay (now Mumbai) in a poor Parsi family, he began his career as a teacher
of mathematics and natural philosophy at Elphinstone Institute (later
Elphinstone College). He was the first Indian to become a full professor. As a
member of the Students Literary and Scientific Society formed in the Institute,
he acted as a pioneer of women’s education. He was an active member of the
Bombay Association (1852), the first association in the western India to
consider political issues. Its meetings were held in the hall of the Institute.
In 1851, he founded Rast Goftar (Truth Teller), a Gujarati fortnightly
with a Persian name. It was a progressive journal educating readers on duties
of citizenship.
In
1855, he resigned from his professorial job; and relocated to Britain to set up
a mercantile firm. The company he founded in partnership with Muncherji
Hormmusji and Kharshedji Rustamji Cama was the first Indian firm to operate in
Britain. Through this commercial venture, Dadabhai had hoped to make Britain
confident about Indian entrepreneurship. But having a fastidious sense of
ethics, he could not long survive in that commercial environment. In 1859, he
opened his own mercantile firm in London viz. Dadabhai Naoroji & Co in
partnership with Jamshedji Palanji Kapadia and Pestanji Ratanji Colah. He
established it beyond doubt that ethical values and business acumen could
co-exist. He wanted Indian businessmen to learn from the methods and devices of
their British counterparts.
But
politics was his true calling. In 1867, he founded the East Indian Association.
It was a political advocacy group for India having both British and Indians on
its membership roll. It was the first political organization with members from
different provinces of India. Two young law students viz. W.C. Bonnerji
(1844-1906) and Pherozeshah M. Mehta (1845-1915) became his disciples. In their
mature years both served as the President of Indian National Congress
(estd.1885).
Dadabhai
read the paper ‘England’s Duties to India’ before a pre-dominantly
British audience at East India Association on May 2, 1867. It was in that paper
he accused of Britain siphoning off wealth from India. An extract reads-
“In
the shape of “home charges” alone there has been a transfer of about 100
millions of pounds sterling, exclusive of interest on public debt, from the
wealth of India to that of England since 1829, during the last thirty-six years
only. The total territorial charges in India since 1829 have been about 820
millions. Supposing that out of the latter sum only one-eighth represents the
sum remitted to England by Europeans in Government service for maintenance of
relatives and families, for education of children, for savings made at the time
of retiring, the sums expended by them for purchases of English articles for
their own consumption, and also sums paid in India for Government stores of
English produce and manufacturers- there is then another 100 millions added to
the wealth of England”.
Where
from he got those statistics in the paper? These were based on
Parliamentary Returns of Indian Accounts. He also relied upon the Second
Customs Report, 1858. His speeches were tinged with such
mathematical data. But he knew that audience could lose patience with figures.
But a reader can revisit them as often he/she wants. Thus his essays were laced
with heavy statistics. His speeches were lucid.
Dadabhai
turned price rise, wages, taxation, tariff, rents, lending rates, agricultural
output, industrial production data, import & export figures and currency
exchange rates into political talking points. He tried
to establish that British rule had led to economic ruination of India. It had
steeply increased the poverty. He argued that such a malevolent policy
militated against British principles themselves. Therefore, he named his magnum
opus ‘Poverty and Un-British Rule in India’ (1901).
Dadabhai
himself was not satisfied with the method of collection of statistics by the
provincial governments. In the paper titled ‘Poverty of India’, read
before the Bombay Branch of East Indian Association of 1876, he pointed at statistical
fallacies and means to improve them. He went into nitty-gritty of acreage, crop
production, prices, domestic consumption pattern, imports and exports. It
requires a great deal of imagination, thorough collection of figures and
meticulous data crunching to establish how British rule was impoverishing
India. Dadabahi was actually laying down the path for future leaders. The
opinion of a lawmaker with grasp over figures, as much over facts, carries
greater credibility.
The
other important legacy of Dadabhai was advocacy of India’s cause abroad. He did
it through the East Indian Association. He then espoused the Indian cause in
the British Parliament. He was the first Indian to be elected to the House of
Commons. He represented the Central Finsbury constituency as a candidate of
Liberal party between 1892 and 1895. He twice served as the President of Indian
National Congress (1886 and 1893) besides representing India at International
Congress of Social Democrats at Amsterdam in 1905. He permanently returned to India
from Britain in 1908 at the ripe age of 83. He passed away in Bombay on June
30, 1917 leaving a weighty bequest of experience and achievements behind.
*****
*The writer is an independent researcher and columnist based in
New Delhi. The views expressed herein are his personal.