The progressive patriot
Who would have thought the 100th death anniversary of Dadabhai Naoroji would arouse such interest in a community that normally disdains or neglects political figures. Yet events are being held globally to remember one of the most illustrious Parsis of all times. Elocution competitions, articles in publications, garlanding of his busts and statues are some of the events being held on or about his death centenary this June 30. Scholar Dinyar Patel, who has co-edited Naoroji’s voluminous correspondence with the political leaders and social reformers of his time (see pg 33), says he has been swamped with requests for articles on the Grand Old Man of India.
At the garlanding of the Naoroji statue in Bombay on the stalwart’s birthday (Naoroji was born on September 4, 1825), the president of The Bombay Parsee Association (BPA) asks Parsis to refrain from using the initials, "D. N. Road" when citing the name of one of South Bombay’s main thoroughfares. Instead, he says, he instructs taxi drivers to go to "Dr Dadabhai Naoroji Road." The Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) letterhead now also carries the full name. Interestingly enough, there is a confluence of Dadabhai Naoroji Road and Mahatma Gandhi Road at Flora Fountain (whose construction was financed by Cursetjee Faredoonjee Parekh).
Few people have achieved what Naoroji, an eminent liberal statesman, did in his 91 years. Though an athornan, he founded at age 26 the Rahnumae Mazdayasnan Sabha (Guides to the Mazdayasni Path), a liberal body for religious reform that is now headed by the chairman of the traditionalist World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ)! Three years later Naoroji launched the Gujarati fortnightly journal, Rast Goftar (The Truth Teller). At 29, he was appointed a professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Elphinstone College, the first Indian to hold such an academic position.
He became a partner of Cama and Company and opened an office in Liverpool, the first Indian company to be established in Britain, states Wikipedia. Naoroji co-founded with Muncherjee Cama the Europena Zarthostionu Dharamnu Khatu (Religious Fund of the Zoroastrians of Europe) which is now known as the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe, and was the first Asian and the first member of the Liberal Party to be elected to the British Parliament. He refused to take the oath of office on a Bible and instead opted for his copy of the Khordeh Avesta. Lord Karan Bilimoria, over a 100 years later, did the same when he became the first Parsi to be appointed to the British House of Lords.
Naoroji was one of the founders of the Indian National Congress (INC) along with Allan Hume and Sir Dinsha Wacha, and was president of the body thrice. Mahatma Gandhi referred to Naoroji as "Dada," father.
Politicians like Wacha, Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, Feroze Gandhi, Minoo Masani, Piloo Mody, though national figures, are largely forgotten, which is not surprising. As Lord Bhiku Parekh, political theorist and member of the House of Lords, noted at the Amy and Sheryar Ookerjee Memorial Lecture (see "A messiah and a missionary," Parsiana, November 7, 2015), many young people could not even recognize a portrait of Rabindranath Tagore who won a Nobel prize for literature and wrote the Indian national anthem. Gandhi is better remembered because he is better marketed, said Parekh.
The community has done little to "market" its political greats. Where once Parsis such as Khurshed (Veer) Nariman and B. K. Boman-Behram served as mayors of Bombay and dominated the Bombay Municipal Corporation, today there is not a single Parsi corporator at the Bori Bunder edifice. Only the statue of Sir Pherozeshah Mehta stands, his back to the building. Some corporators may garland his statue occasionally but for the Parsis he is relegated to the history books. Not many Parsis have heard of Wacha or are even aware that his statue stands at Churchgate, across from the railway station.
Unless there are some activists like the BPA or the cosmopolitan Kala Ghoda Association (KGA) to remind us of our worthy heritage and contribution to the city and country, the memory of these pioneers will be erased. The BPP trustees have their hands full managing 5,500 to 6,000 flats, other properties, institutions and, of course, quarrelling with each other. The Holiday Programme for Youth is one of the few successful BPP activities whose objective is to educate and enlighten youngsters. Many other trusts and institutions are moribund, disinterested or defunct. The energy levels appear low. Just surviving in the city drains one’s energy.
Setting up new institutions may prove futile. The lifespan of bodies founded with noble intentions is short. The association of agiaries formed to oppose the exorbitant hike in property tax or the proposed federation of Parsi baugs to fight the hike in service charges, do not survive much beyond achieving their initial objective, if at all. The Return to Roots and the Jiyo Parsi (JP) projects initiated by the Delhi based Parzor Foundation are two meritorious, newly formed community endeavors though sadly JP discriminates against Parsi women married to non-Parsis. The Save Rani Bagh Botanical Garden Foundation is another fine example, like the KGA, of Parsis and others coming together to preserve the city’s heritage and diminishing green lung.
If these bodies can be formed, why not community bodies that strive to make Parsis aware of their worthy heritage? Why is it we are not able to elect a single corporator when once a Parsi helped found the INC, which incidentally was/is led by women married to Parsis, a Parsi and his offspring?
What the community needs to do is find ways to institutionalize and channel enterprise. For a community that doesn’t have a single think tank nor utilizes the services of existing ones, this is all alien territory. Much of the leadership is unlettered. They have as much interest in developing intellect as they have of introducing reform.
In his paper (see "The radicalization of Naoroji," Parsiana, August 7, 2014), Patel mentions that as Naoroji grew older, he leaned more to the left. Most Parsis are middle-of-the-road in thought and as they grow older become dogmatic and traditionalist. Not Naoroji. His mind was open to new ideas. Masani also had a fine intellect but his unwillingness to compromise on principles probably prevented him from occupying the top political post in the country. The people who lead are the ones with vision, intellect, a love for knowledge and a balanced point of view. On the death centenary of Naoroji let us make an endeavor to nurture these qualities.