Dadabhai Naoroji quotes

Dadabhai Naoroji was an influential Indian politician, educator, and economic thinker, often known as the "Grand Old Man of India." His pioneering work highlighted the economic exploitation of India under British rule and laid the groundwork for the Indian independence movement. He became the first Asian to be elected to the British Parliament and inspired generations of Indian leaders. Here are 17 of his quotes:

Materially: The political drain, up to this time, from India to England, of above, 500,000,000, at the lowest computation, in principal alone...The further continuation of this drain at the rate, at present, of above, 12,000,000 per annum, with a tendency to increase.

Dadabhai Naoroji

Indians were British citizens with a birthright to be free and that they had every right to claim an honorable fulfillment of our British pledged rights.... It is futile to tell me that we must wait till all the people are ready. The British people did not -wait for their parliament.... Self-government is the only and chief remedy. In self-government is our hope, strength and greatness. I am a Hindu, a Muslim, a Parsi, but above all an Indian First.

Dadabhai Naoroji

There is no doubt... Dadabhai served his country with a sacrifice and singleness of purpose which it may be rightly said, without exaggeration, was rare. A devout follower of Zoroaster, he faithfully followed the ethics of that Great Prophet - pure in thought, word and deed.

Dadabhai Naoroji

When the Marquis of Salisbury made a remark about me in connection with the Holborn contest, the whole Liberal Party – including our Great Leader – the Press, and the National Liberal Club ... showed generous sympathy towards me.

Dadabhai Naoroji

Is it vanity that I should take great pleasure in being hailed as the Grand Old Man of India? No, that title, which speaks volumes for the warm, grateful and generous hearts of my countrymen, is to me, whether I deserve it or not, the highest reward of my life.

Dadabhai Naoroji

The greatest gift the Parsis have bestowed on India is in your own good self.

Dadabhai Naoroji

Naoroji's fair skin was often described as an advantage, as it meant that voters did not associate him with Africans.

Dadabhai Naoroji

However great the progress of mankind has been, and however far we have advanced in overcoming prejudices, I doubt if we have yet got to the point of view where an English constituency would elect a Blackman.

Dadabhai Naoroji

He is not black nor anything like it, and we shall be surprised if he is the darkest member in the new House of Commons.

Dadabhai Naoroji

More than 20 years earlier a small band of Hindu students and thoughtful gentlemen used to meet secretly to discuss the effects of British rule in India. The home charges and the transfer of capital from India to England in various shapes, and the exclusion of the children of the country from any share or voice in the administration of their own country, formed the chief burden of their complaint.

Dadabhai Naoroji

The elections clearly showed me that a suitable Indian candidate has as good a chance as any Englishman, or even some advantages over an Englishman, for there is a general and genuine desire among English electors to give to India any help in their power.

Dadabhai Naoroji

Be united, persevere, and achieve self-Government, so that the millions now perishing by poverty, famine, and plague may be saved, and India may once more occupy her proud position of yore among the greatest and civilized nations of the world.

Dadabhai Naoroji

He was of opinion that we should be able to convince the general English public, the working man particularly, that the reforms that I advanced would be far more beneficial to the English nation, particularly to the working man...If India is prosperous and rich, she would buy far more English produce and give work proportionately to the working man.

Dadabhai Naoroji

All I did was point out that you could not understand the meaning of the Holborn election in 1886 unless you remembered that the Liberal candidate was not only of a different race – widely separated from us – but that it was marked by his complexion...and that, in the existing state of English opinion was a very strong factor.

Dadabhai Naoroji

By far the larger proportion of the British subjects are black men, and to condemn a man merely for his colour was reminiscent of the ‘very worst days' of slavery.

Dadabhai Naoroji