MPs skip Naoroji's birth anniversary at Parliament House Complex

Freedom fighter Dababhai Naoroji's birth anniversary at Parliament House Complex remained a dull affair on Wednesday as none of the 780 Members of Parliament of both the houses turned up to pay homage to the leader, who is fondly referred as "grand old man of India".

Freedom fighter Dababhai Naoroji's birth anniversary at Parliament House Complex remained a dull affair on Wednesday as none of the 780 Members of Parliament of both the houses turned up to pay homage to the leader, who is fondly referred as "grand old man of India". In their absence, senior officers of Lok Sabha secretariat, Rajya Sabha secretariat and Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs paid floral tributes to Naoroji's portrait put up in the Central Hall of Parliament.

A bulletin, issued by Lok Sabha secretariat on September 2, had invited all the MPs to attend the function. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who was out of the country, took on Twitter to pay his tributes to Naoroji.

"Today is the birth anniversary of Dadabhai Naoroji, an ardent patriot, economic thinker and among the greatest socio-political reformers of India, whose portrait is also installed in the Central Hall of our Parliament. Humble homage and tributes to 'The Grand Old Man of India'," he said. Born in Bombay on September 4, 1825, Naoroji was the President of the Indian National Congress thrice.

The Congress, the Trinamool Congress and its Chief Ministers including Punjab's Captain Amarinder Singh and Mamata Banerjee paid tributes to the great freedom fighter on Twitter. "We remember Dadabhai Naoroji, one of the founders of the Indian National Congress. He was often referred to as the Grand Old Man of India and was the first Indian to become a British MP," the Congress said.

Remembering Naoroji, one of the founding member of the Congress, Singh said: "I join a grateful nation in remembering him for his contribution to the freedom struggle." "Tribute to political leader and educationist Dadabhai Naoroji on his birth anniversary," Banerjee, the West Bengal Chief Minister tweeted.

Some of the Union Ministers also remembered Naoroji and his contributions. "My tributes to great social reformer and scholar, "Grand Old Man of India" Dadabhai Naoroji on his birth anniversary," Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi tweeted.

"I pay my tributes to Dadabhai Naoroji, the man who inspired our freedom fighters & freedom struggle through his views & books on his birth anniversary. His views on Drain theory & his book "Poverty and Un-British Rule in India" stood testimony to anarchic colonial rule in India," said Minister of State Home, G Kishan Reddy. In 2018, while paying tributes to Naoroji in Central Hall of Parliament, a booklet containing the profile of Naoroji was brought out in Hindi and English by the Lok Sabha secretariat and was presented to the dignitaries who attended the function.

Naoroji's portrait was unveiled by the then Speaker of Lok Sabha G V Mavalankar in the Central Hall of Parliament on March 13, 1954. Naoroji belonged to the Parsi community, one of the most successful minorities and migrant groups in the world. The community is among six notified minority communities namely Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains who constitute about 18.42 per cent of the total population of India as per 2001 census.

Today, Parsis such as the Tata, Godrej and Wadia families are among India's top corporate dynasties. (ANI)

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