Do you know, who was the first Indian who was elected a member of British Parliament?

Do you know that Parsis have a different place in India, be it Dadabhai Naoroji or JRD Tata, or Sam Manekshaw.

Do you know, who was the first Indian on the soil of England, far away from India, who was elected a member of the British Parliament?  Yes, he was a Parsi Indian.  His name was Dadabhai Naoroji.  Naoroji was a businessman and had visited Britain in 1885 as a trading partner of Cama & Co.  He had previously been Professor of Gujarati at University College, London (1856–65).  This Dadabhai Naoroji was one of the founders and thrice President of the Indian National Congress.

It was in 1892, when Naoroji stood as a Liberal Party candidate for the constituency of Central Finsbury in London and was elected as the first Indian of Parsi origin to become a member of the British Parliament.

Although they were elected by British men, women in Britain did not even have the right to vote.  But Naoroji claimed to represent millions of Indians who had no democratic government of their own, and were governed by the British Parliament.

As an MP, Naoroji fought for the common man as a true Indian and as a Parsi, he supported votes for women, pensions for the elderly, Irish Home Rule and the abolition of the House of Lords.
Photo Courtesy BBC.COM