Allow me to congratulate Parsiana for reporting on the events commemorating the 100th death anniversary of Dadabhai Naoroji. The write-up on the commemoration meeting convened by the Ahmedabad Parsi Panchayat ("Remembering Dadabhai,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, August 21, 2017) was illuminating. It covered aspects of his life I was unaware of.
While the article brought out many facets of his greatness, it surprisingly seems to have missed out on his major contribution as the father figure of the freedom struggle through his famous ‘Drain Theory.’ It was his path-breaking book, Poverty and UnBritish Rule in India, published in 1901, that lay the basis for India’s freedom movement. It was the first ever book on this subject.
It was in fact this book (together with a few others) which I discovered at the British Museum Library while studying chartered accountancy in London, that inspired me to change the entire course of my life — from becoming a corporate honcho, to being a social activist. In fact Shashi Tharoor’s recent book, Era of Darkness, merely elaborates on the basic points first raised by Naoroji. Of course, critics of Tharoor like Roderick Mathews (Open, October 7, 2017) are also right when they say "Yes, British supported injustices in India, but it was for the benefit of wealthy and powerful Indians.”
After all, it is only this that can explain why the British framed an unjust legal system that continues to this day; which has now kept me in jail for over eight years — all as an undertrial, even after being acquitted in case after case. I am now in Visakhapatnam Central Jail in a case I already have bail for and where all others were earlier acquitted. In fact by February 2017 itself I had been acquitted in all cases and had bail in others, but could not get released for want of getting local sureties. Not belonging to Telangana/Andhra Pradesh and not knowing people here, where am I expected to find sureties in godforsaken places like Achampet (four cases), that too from jail?
Besides, they can spring new first information reports (FIRs) on me just as the cases are getting over, to keep me inside indefinitely, without ever being convicted. The system is so unjust that there is no time frame for the police to serve the FIR — it can be done after five years, 10 years, 15 years. It was only on these FIRs that senior advocate Fali Nariman sought relief in the Supreme Court, using Article 21 regarding the fundamental right to life. The judge’s response (even though I am over 70 with numerous illnesses): "It does not apply here!” Even then Nariman tried his best, and even at this late age, we witness him defending democratic rights on issue after issue.
Anyhow, in the twilight of my life, I hope to pay tribute to that Grand Old Man, by reinventing the ‘Drain Theory’ and poverty in today’s context. On this 75th anniversary of the Quit India Movement it would be a fitting remembrance to Naoroji.
Yet, hoping to be released soon.
KOBAD GHANDY
Visakhapatnam Central Jail