Naoroji, Dadabhai (1825-1917), was a prominent early leader of the Indian nationalist movement. He was also a writer.
Naoroji was born in Bombay (now Mumbai), where his family belonged to the small Parsi community. Parsis, also called Zoroastrians, are followers of a religion known as Zoroastrianism (see Zoroastrianism ). Naoroji was educated at Elphinstone College in Bombay. He eventually became a businessman, teacher, and journalist.
Naoroji spent much of his time in England, where he became a leading advocate of Indian interests. He played a major role in establishing the Indian National Congress in 1855. The Indian National Congress was a group of Indian lawyers and professionals that gathered and presented complaints of the Indian people to the British government. It evolved into one of the most powerful political parties in India. Naoroji served as its president three times. His best known book, Poverty and Un-British Rule in India (1901), is a collection of his essays and speeches in which he claimed that British rule had drained India of its wealth. From 1892 to 1895, Naoroji served as the first Indian to be elected to the British Parliament.
