The Grand Old Man: Dadabhai Naoroji and the Evolution of the Demand for Indian Self-Government The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Patel, Dinyar Phiroze. 2015. The Grand Old Man: Dadabhai Naoroji and the Evolution of the Demand for Indian Self-Government. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:17467241 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA The Grand Old Man: Dadabhai Naoroji and the Evolution of the Demand for Indian Self-Government A dissertation presented by Dinyar Patel to The Department of History In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of History Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts May 2015 © 2015 Dinyar Patel All rights reserved. Dissertation Advisor: Professor Sugata Bose Dinyar Patel The Grand Old Man: Dadabhai Naoroji and the Evolution of the Demand for Indian Self-Government Abstract This dissertation traces the thought and career of Dadabhai Naoroji, arguably the most significant Indian nationalist leader in the pre-Gandhian era. Naoroji (1825-1917) gave the Indian National Congress a tangible political goal in 1906 when he declared its objective to be self-government or swaraj. I identify three distinct phases in the development of his political thought. In the first phase of his career, lasting from the mid- 1860s until the mid-1880s, Naoroji posited the “drain of wealth” theory, which argued that British colonialism was dramatically impoverishing India by siphoning off its resources. Naoroji embedded a political corollary into his economic ideas, arguing that empowering Indians through political reform was the only way to stop the drain. As early as 1884, Naoroji declared that the ultimate objective of such reform was Indian self- government. Naoroji contended that the best chance for achieving political reform lay through influencing the British Parliament. In the second stage of his career, beginning in 1886, Naoroji took up this task by contesting a parliamentary seat. He constructed a broad alliance among various progressive British leaders—Irish home rulers, socialists, and women’s rights activists—and relied upon them and Indian allies to win election to the House of Commons in 1892. In Parliament, Naoroji pushed for the implementation of simultaneous civil service examinations, which he envisaged as the first step toward Indian self-government. Naoroji’s time in the Commons, however, was brief and iii disappointing, and in the third and final phase of his career, beginning in 1895, he radicalized considerably. He propounded his views on Indian poverty with renewed force while strengthening his ties with socialists and anti-imperialists in Britain and abroad. Concluding that imperialism was inherently economically exploitative, Naoroji declared that only swaraj could stop the drain of wealth. iv For S.R. Mehrotra v Table of Contents IMAGES viii NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY ix ABBREVIATIONS x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xi INTRODUCTION—Indian Nationalism Before Gandhi 1 1—THE SCHOOL MASTER ABROAD: Dadabhai Naoroji and Colonial 24 Bombay’s Educative Tradition 2—OF POVERTY AND PRINCES: The Drain Theory and its Political 76 Corollary 3—TURNING TOWARD WESTMINSTER: Network and Coalition- 137 Building During and After the Holborn Campaign of 1886 4—ACROSS THE KALA PANI: Dadabhai Naoroji, the British Public 198 Sphere, and the British Indian Community 5—THE CENTRAL FINSBURY CAMPAIGN: Electors, Powerbrokers, 256 and the Challenges of being an Indian Candidate for an English Constituency 6—MEMBER FOR INDIA: Parliamentary Politics, Simultaneous 305 Examinations, and the Making of an Indian Leader 7—SWARAJ 342 CONCLUSION—Indian Nationalism After Naoroji 382 KEY INDIVIDUALS 390 TIMELINE 402 APPENDIX A—Naoroji-Dutt Correspondence, July 1903 410 APPENDIX B—Sample Membership and Publication Subscriptions 416 vi APPENDIX C—Sample Philanthropic Donations 420 APPENDIX D—Sample Investments 431 Appendix E—Sample Loans 433 Bibliography 436 vii Images Image 1: Oil on canvass portrait of Dadabhai Naoroji 2 Image 2: Kharshedji Nasarvanji Cama 53 Image 3: Parsi girls’ school from the late 1880s or early 1890s, 63 Bombay Image 4: Map of Holborn 159 Image 5: Holborn campaign flier 170 Image 6: The “black man incident” 196 Image 7: A 2012 photograph of 72 Anerley Park, London 221 Image 8: A page from the October 1891 edition of Asia 239 Image 9: Turning the “black man incident” into political capital 266 Image 10: Map of Finsbury 270 Image 11: Overcrowding in London, 1891 census 271 Image 12: “Black man” in the Commons 303 Image 13: “To the Electors of Central Finsbury, London” 306 Image 14: “Extinct!!” 340 Image 15: Indian famine victims 347 Image 16: An impoverished Mother India 385 viii Note on Terminology The English renderings of nineteenth century Indian names vary widely. In this dissertation, I have tried to adopt the most commonly used spellings for particular individuals. Parsis and many other Indians did not begin using standardized surnames until the late nineteenth century; therefore, some individuals, such as Navrozji Fardunji, are referred to by their given name (Navrozji, in this case) in subsequent references. To avoid confusion, I have retained the colonial spellings for Indian cities; therefore, Mumbai remains Bombay, Kolkata remains Calcutta, Chennai remains Madras, and so on. I have employed the term “Anglo-Indian” to mean Britons resident in India. To describe individuals of mixed Indian and European heritage, I have used the term “Eurasian.” ix Abbreviations BL – British Library DNP – Dadabhai Naoroji Papers IOR – India Office Records MSA – Maharashtra State Archives NAI – National Archives of India NNR – Native Newspaper Reports NMML – Nehru Memorial Museum and Library RPPM – R.P. Patwardhan manuscripts WDP – William Digby Papers x Acknowledgments This dissertation is the product of many years of archival research, and there are consequently many individuals who must be thanked. Without the help of these individuals, it would have been impossible for me to complete this work on Dadabhai Naoroji. Firstly, I must thank the members of my dissertation committee. Over the past eight years, Sugata Bose has helped me fundamentally reorient my own perspectives on South Asian history. He has been supportive as I broadened my research focus from Parsi history to the intellectual, economic, and political history of South Asia in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Sven Beckert and Maya Jasanoff have provided their valuable insight on my own work and have helped me understand Naoroji’s career in new ways, drawing in perspectives from global economic history and British history. Like many young historians of South Asia, I have benefited from Ramachandra Guha’s warm support, encouragement, and interest in my career. In spite of his own busy schedule, he has been able to review this work in detail and provide incisive comments. He has also been an inspiring example of how historians can engage with a wider audience outside of the ivory tower. To S.R. Mehrotra I owe a particular debt of gratitude. When I first contacted him in 2010, he informed me, “I have been waiting for your call.” By this, he meant someone who was interested in researching and writing about Naoroji. For nearly three decades, Mehrotra has been working almost single- handedly to identify and publish selections of Naoroji’s voluminous correspondence. Since 2010, he has included me in this project, and has generously shared with me his xi encyclopedic knowledge of early Indian nationalism. He has taught me the value of sustained archival research. This dissertation is dedicated to him. I have been fortunate to receive help and assistance from numerous other researchers and scholars from around the world. In particular, I must mention Rustom Bharucha, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Prashant Kidambi, John McLeod, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Enuga Reddy, Mitra Sharafi, and Yuhan Vevaina. Peter Stansky, my undergraduate thesis advisor at Stanford, has continued to be an encouraging mentor throughout my graduate school years. John Hinnells has shared with me his vast knowledge of Parsi history and has taken a strong interest in this project. I feel fortunate to have met and discussed my work with the late C.A. Bayly. Several organizations have funded my research. I must thank the Fulbright Program for its generous financial support. I received an IIE Fulbright Nehru Fellowship in 2011 and a DDRA Fulbright Hays Fellowship in 2012. At the Fulbright Commission in New Delhi, I am particularly grateful to Neeraj Goswami and S.K. Bharathi for their support while I was on these fellowships. I deeply appreciate the invaluable support provided to me by the Zoroastrian community. I must thank the Vakhshoori family, especially Koorosh Vakhshoori, for an Ahura Fellowship in 2010. The Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America (FEZANA) generously provided me with two scholarships while I completed my dissertation research. Within FEZANA I am particularly grateful to the trustees and benefactors of the Mehraban and Morvorid Kheradi Endowment as well as Dolly Dastoor, Roshan Rivetna, and Rohinton Rivetna. The Department of History at Harvard University provided me with a Clive Fellowship, which helped me conduct research in the United Kingdom in late 2012. The South Asia xii Institute at Harvard University has supported me both before and after my dissertation research abroad, especially through my appointments as a Graduate Student Associate. I must thank, in particular, Sugata Bose, Tarun Khanna, Meena Hewett, Nora Maginn, and Meghan Smith. Most of my dissertation research was conducted in Delhi in 2011-12. In the Delhi area I must thank, above all, Rati and Yezad Kapadia, Niloufer and Noshir Shroff, and Rukshana and Cyrus Shroff, and Shernaz Cama.