Which of the following statements are true about freedom fighter 'Dadabhai Naoroji'?
(A) He was the first Indian to demand Swaraj.
(B) He was also known as 'Grand Old Man of India'.
(C) He edited the newspaper - 'Desh'.
(D) He started 'The Republican Party'.
(E) He wrote 'Poverty and Un-British Rule in India'.
Choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → (A), (B), (E) only
Dadabhai Naoroji (1825-1917) was one of the founders of the Indian National Congress, its president three times, and the first Indian member of the British House of Commons (1892).
(A) He was the first Indian to demand Swaraj. Correct. As president of the Calcutta session of 1906, he declared self-government, or Swaraj, to be the goal of the Congress.
(B) He was also known as ‘Grand Old Man of India’. Correct. His long service to the national cause earned him the title “Grand Old Man of India”.
(C) He edited the newspaper - ‘Desh’. Incorrect. The paper he founded and edited was the Gujarati fortnightly Rast Goftar (“The Truth-Teller”), started in 1851.
(D) He started ‘The Republican Party’. Incorrect. The Republican Party of India was planned by B. R. Ambedkar and formed by his followers in 1957; Naoroji founded no such party.
(E) He wrote ‘Poverty and Un-British Rule in India’. Correct. This book of 1901 sets out his Drain Theory: that British rule drained India’s wealth to Britain.