Portrait of Dadabhai Naoroji

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Dadabhai Naoroji

Dadabhai Naoroji, Indian academic and politician, President of the Indian National Congress (died 1917)

Born
September 4, 1825
Died
June 30, 1917
Zodiac sign
Virgo
Birth year
1825

About Dadabhai Naoroji

Dadabhai Naoroji was an Indian political leader, merchant, scholar, and writer who played a role in both Indian and British public life. He was among the founding members of the Indian National Congress and served as its President on three occasions, from 1886 to 1887, 1893 to 1894 and 1906 to 1907. Naoroji's early career included serving as the Diwan of Baroda in 1874. Subsequently, he moved to England, where he continued to advocate for Indian interests. In 1892, he was elected to the House of Commons as a Liberal Party Member of Parliament, representing Finsbury Central until 1895. He was the second person of Asian descent to become a British MP following David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre, who was an Anglo Indian MP. Naoroji is particularly known for formulating the "drain theory", which argued that economic exploitation under British rule led to the transfer of wealth from India to Britain. Being an Athornan (ordained priest), Naoroji founded the Rahnumai Mazdayasan Sabha (Guides on the Mazdayasne Path) on 1 August 1851 to restore the Zoroastrian religion to its original purity and simplicity. In 1854, he also founded a Gujarati fortnightly publication, the Rast Goftar (The Truth Teller), to clarify Zoroastrian concepts and promote Parsi social reforms.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Dadabhai Naoroji timeline

  1. Being an Athornan (ordained priest), Naoroji founded the Rahnumai Mazdayasan Sabha (Guides on the Mazdayasne Path) on 1 August 1851 to restore the Zoroastrian religion to its original purity and simplicity.
  2. In 1854, he also founded a Gujarati fortnightly publication, the Rast Goftar (The Truth Teller), to clarify Zoroastrian concepts and promote Parsi social reforms.
  3. Naoroji's early career included serving as the Diwan of Baroda in 1874.

The world when Dadabhai Naoroji was born

Dadabhai Naoroji was born in 1825. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Headlines and milestones

  • Top headlineErie Canal opens — transforms US commerce
  • Technology milestoneFirst public railway (Stockton & Darlington, England)
  • World population~1.05B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderJohn Quincy Adams
  • U.S. population11.0M

1825 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Dadabhai Naoroji's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure18252026
Population11.0M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.