The great hero of the initial phase of Indian freedom.
Shared by Syed Ehtesham.
[Note: This article is being published to commemorate the death anniversary of Dadabhai Naoroji on June 30.]
By Praveen Daver.
“Let us always remember that we are all children of our mother country. Indeed, I have never worked in any other spirit than that I am an Indian, and owe duty to my country and all my countrymen. Whether I am a Hindu, a Muslim, a Parsi, a Christian or any other creed, I am above all an Indian. Our country is India, our nationality is Indian.”
These inspiring words were spoken by Dadabhai Naoroji in Lahore, where he was presiding over a session of the Indian National Congress for the second time. Earlier, he was president of the Congress at its second session in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1886 and, later, for the third time in Calcutta again in 1906.
Naoroji was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) on September 4, 1825 in a priestly Parsi family, the only child of Manekbai and Naoroji Palanji Dordi, who had migrated from Navsari in present-day Gujarat.
A brilliant student, Naoroji joined the famed Elphinstone College, Bombay after passing the matriculation examination and graduated from there in 1845, winning many prizes and scholarships. On the completion of his college career, he was appointed assistant professor at Elphinstone College and awarded the honorary LLD degree by Bombay University.
As a devout Zoroastrian, Naoroji learnt that one should be pure in thought, speech and action. He also read the lives of many great men of world history, which inspired him to think that he owed a debt to society. He decided to pay back the debt by devoting himself to the service of the people.
Naoroji looked beyond his profession of teaching and felt the need for reform in society. He started schools to impart education to women and societies to provide young people with opportunities to discuss various literary, scientific and social subjects.
He also began a Gujarati weekly named Rast Goftar (‘Truth Teller’) to spread his ideas in the city of Mumbai, where he became famous as a pioneer of social reform and was regarded as “the promise of India” by his fellow professors.
In 1855, Naoroji went to England to work as a partner in a commercial firm named Cama & Company. This was the first Indian firm to be founded in London. But his principles of putting ethics and commercial morality above business interests made it difficult for his partners to deal with him, and Naoroji was forced to leave the firm.
He started his own company, which initially did very well, but soon ran into debt due to his friends who were in financial distress. However, he managed to overcome his financial problems as he also worked as a professor of Gujarati at the University College, London.
Remembering Dadabhai Naoroji, the
Great
Hero of the Initial Phase of India’s
Freedom
Struggle
To read the full article please click the following link to Janta weekly