Lord Bhikhu Parekh addressed a conference on Dadabhai Naoroji in Zorostrian Centre on 19th October. Naoroji was the first MP of Indian ethnicity and had joined the Lib Dem party, winning a seat in 1892.
When the Conservatives and Lib Dems formed a Coalition government, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg had announced Dadabhai Naoroji Award, recognising ones those who helped to build UK-India relations. The awards were judged by ministers following nominations from the public in 3 categories: commerce, culture and education. They were presented today at a Foreign and Commonwealth Office reception for the British Indian diaspora, attended by Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in 2014. However, ever since, the awards were not given to anyone in the last 3 years.
Dadabhai was both an academic and a business man. Later in life he also became a public figure who won a Parliamentary seat of Central Finchley with a tiny majority of three which, on a recount, became a majority of five. Lord Salisbury had canvassed against him and remarked that the country was not yet ready to elect a ‘black man’. This remark was heavily criticised in India and by several sections of the British media, many of them saying that Dadabhai was as white as Salisbury and that his colour was politically irrelevant. Several people was were so angry that they actually joined Dadabhai’s campaign, gave him unprecedented support, and snatched victory from the jaws of certain defeat.
Speaking at the conference, Lord Parekh said, “I can claim three bonds with Dadabhai. He was born only a few miles away from where I was. He was a professor of Gujarati in the University College London, and that language also happens to be my mother tongue. Finally, he was the Dewan of the state of Baroda for over a year where I was once a University Vice-Chancellor.
Speaking about Dadabhai's appointment as a MP, Parekh went on to say, “Very few Indians enjoy as much reverence and respect in both India and the U.K. as Dadabhai Naoroji does. In Britain he is respected as one of the first Indian M.P.s , and in India as one of the founding fathers of the Indian National Congress. Strictly speaking Dadabhai was not the first Indian M.P. in the British House of Commons. That honour goes to David Dyce Sombre, born in India, whose father had mixed Scottish and Indian, and his mother French and Indian ancestry, and who had become an M.P. nearly 50 years before Dadabhai. He was a corrupt man and was disqualified by Parliament within a year. Dadabhai is the first Indian M.P. in the ethnic sense of being born of Indian parents, viewing India as his second home, and also perhaps as someone who lasted a full term. He was the first MP to take an oath on Avesta, not the Bible.”
As an MP Dadabhai supported several valuable causes such as women’s suffrage, pension for the elderly, Home Rule for Ireland, and abolition of the House of Lords. Although not a great debater he was skilful in marshalling arguments and presenting a strong case for his views. He also supported the cause of India’s Independence,” added Parekh. “He was particularly angry at the way the British took money out of India and ‘drained’ its wealth. Although critical of Britain he also took a sympathetic view of its commitment to great values such as fairness and justice. He believed that when the British people were presented with both sides of an issue they tended to be fair and equitable. When Britain failed to live up to its ideals, it was being un-British and not true to itself. This is why one his great books published in 1901 was titled Poverty and the Un-British Rule in India. He was one of the founding fathers of the liberal tradition in India, an alien and rather fragile implant, and did much to nourish it along with constitutionalism and Parliamentary democracy.”
Dadabhai’s legacy is considerable including the Congress party and Secularism. He inspired both Gandhi and Jinnah and saw India’s major communities with an impartial eye. No wonder, the title he most liked was the Grand Old Man of India, not a knighthood or a peerage. He set a great example of rectitude and hard work and taught his successors including Indians how to lead an honourable public life.
Speaking about his roots as a diasporic citizen, Parekh added, “Dadabhai belonged to the first generation of the Indian diaspora. He was born and died in India, spent many years there, and spoke its language. For him this was a normal way of relating to his country of origin . He did not got out to India to ‘help’ or ‘serve its people’: that seemed too arrogant and patronising to him. Rather he went there because he loved it, was part of it, and felt it his duty to contribute what he could to its well-being. This has a message for us today who wonder how to be diasporic citizens.”
