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HarperCollins & Harvard University Press present Dinyar Patel’s Naoroji: Pioneer of Indian Nationalism

17 June 2020

naoroji by dinyar patelpresent

DINYAR PATEL’s

NAOROJI

Pioneer of Indian Nationalism

Published by Harvard University Press

naoroji by dinyar patel

The definitive biography of Dadabhai Naoroji, the nineteenth-century activist who founded the Indian National Congress, was the first British MP of Indian origin, and inspired Gandhi and Nehru.

‘Dadabhai Naoroji was the most important modern Indian leader before Gandhi. It is hard to imagine what Indian nationalism would have looked like without him: we can find his influence in its bedrock ideas, its institutions, its guiding principles, and its ultimate goals. As the first Asian to sit in the British Parliament, he was also a remarkable figure in British history. Additionally, Naoroji put Indian politics in touch with the wider world. He cultivated relations with anti-imperialists in Europe and America, suffragists and women’s rights advocates, international socialists, Irish home rulers, and members of the global African diaspora. For these reasons, and many others, no less a person than Gandhi referred to Naoroji as a “mahatma” and the “father of the nation.” And yet, surprisingly, Naoroji is today curiously forgotten in India, Great Britain, and the wider world. My book is a direct response to this contemporary neglect, stressing Naoroji’s historical significance and the continued relevance of his ideas.’ – Dinyar Patel

About the book

Mahatma Gandhi called Dadabhai Naoroji the “father of the nation,” a title that today is reserved for Gandhi himself. Dinyar Patel examines the extraordinary life of this foundational figure in India’s modern political history, a devastating critic of British colonialism who served in Parliament as the first-ever Indian MP, forged ties with anti-imperialists around the world, and established self-rule or swaraj as India’s objective.

Naoroji’s political career evolved in three distinct phases. He began as the activist who formulated the “drain of wealth” theory, which held the British Raj responsible for India’s crippling poverty and devastating famines. His ideas upended conventional wisdom holding that colonialism was beneficial for Indian subjects and put a generation of imperial officials on the defensive. Next, he attempted to influence the British Parliament to institute political reforms. He immersed himself in British politics, forging links with socialists, Irish home rulers, suffragists, and critics of empire. With these allies, Naoroji clinched his landmark election to the House of Commons in 1892, an event noticed by colonial subjects around the world. Finally, in his twilight years he grew disillusioned with parliamentary politics and became more radical. He strengthened his ties with British and European socialists, reached out to American anti-imperialists and Progressives, and fully enunciated his demand for swaraj. Only self-rule, he declared, could remedy the economic ills brought about by British control in India.

Naoroji is the first comprehensive study of the most significant Indian nationalist leader before Gandhi.

Hardback | Page extent 320 | 699

For more information, please email:

Krishna.Arora@harpercollins.co.in  ; +91 99115 68369

 

Published by: Harvard University Press

Represented in India by: HarperCollins Publishers India


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