Dadabhai Naoroji: First Indian MP in British Parliament
Born of priestly Parsi family in 1825 in Bombay, Dadabhai Naoroji took a leading part in founding the Indian National Congress of which he was the president for three times (in 1886, 1893 and 1906). Affectionately called the 'Grand Old Man of India', he was the first Indian to be elected to the British Parliament. He entered the British House of Commons as a member of the Liberal Party in 1892. In 1852, Naoroji established Bombay Association, India’s first political association. In 1867 he helped establish the East India Association which aimed to put across Indian viewpoints across to the British public A critic of British economic policy in India, Naoroji is known for his enunciations of the Drain Theory in his long paper, Poverty and Un-British Rule in India. Dadabhai Naoroji died in 1917 in Mumbai.