The Grand Old Man of India who became Britain’s first Asian MP

How was an Indian elected to the British Parliament in 1892? What relevance could this historical event have for us today?
Dadabhai Naoroji (1825-1917) is an unfamiliar name these days.
Yet, aside from being the first Asian to sit in the House of Commons, he was also the most important leader in India before Mahatma Gandhi, as well as being an anti-racist and anti-imperialist of global significance.
Now, more than ever, amidst various global crises, he deserves to be remembered.
His life is a stirring testament to the power of progressive politics - and how the determined pursuit of such politics can bring light into even the darkest chapters of history. Naoroji was born into relative poverty in Bombay. He was an early beneficiary of a novel experiment - free public schooling - and believed that public service was the best way to repay his moral debts for his education.
From an early age, he championed progressive causes that were deeply unpopular.
In the late 1840s, he opened schools for Indian girls, earning the wrath of orthodox Indian men. But he had a knack of persevering and turning the tide of opinion.
Within five years, girls' schools in Bombay were brimming with pupils. Naoroji responded by setting the bar higher, making an early demand for gender equality. Indians, he argued, would one day "understand that woman had as much right to exercise and enjoy all the rights, privileges, and duties of this world as man."
In 1855, Naoroji made his first visit to Great Britain.
He was utterly stunned by the wealth and prosperity he saw and began reflecting on why his own country remained so impoverished.
Thus began two decades of path-breaking economic analysis whereby Naoroji challenged one of the most sacred shibboleths of the British Empire: the idea that imperialism brought prosperity to colonial subjects.
In a torrent of scholarship, he proved that the exact opposite was true.
British rule, he argued, was "bleeding" India to death, unleashing catastrophically deadly famines. Many enraged Britons, hurling charges of sedition and disloyalty, could barely believe that a colonial subject could make such claims in public.
Others, however, benefitted from Naoroji's foundational contributions to anti-colonial thought.
His idea of how imperialism caused a "drain of wealth" from colonies informed European socialists, American Progressives like William Jennings Bryan, and possibly even Karl Marx. Slowly, as with female education in India, Naoroji helped turn the tide of public opinion.
Indian poverty, of all things, was the launching pad for Naoroji's parliamentary ambitions.
As a British colonial subject, he could stand for Parliament, as long as he did so from Britain.
Following the model of some Irish nationalists, he believed that India should demand political change from within the halls of power in Westminster: there were no similar avenues in India. And so, in 1886, he launched his first campaign, from Holborn, and was soundly defeated.
He did not give up. Over the next few years, he forged alliances between Indian nationalism and a host of progressive movements in Britain. Naoroji also became a vocal supporter of women's suffrage.
He championed Irish home rule and nearly stood for Parliament from Ireland. And he aligned himself with labour and socialism, critiquing capitalism and calling for sweeping workers' rights.
Through sheer perseverance, Naoroji convinced a widening spectrum of Britons that India required urgent reform - just as women deserved the vote, or workers an eight-hour day. He received letters of support from workmen, union leaders, agriculturalists, feminists, and clergymen.  Not all Britons were pleased with the prospective Indian MP. He was tarred as a "carpetbagger," and "Hottentot."     -BBC