1/n I wrote a profile about the fabulous Indian independence leader and scholar Dadabhai Naoroji for @globalsoctheory. His Drain of Wealth theory ended the facile argument that Empire benifitted India by analysing how much money Britain looted annually globalsocialtheory.org/thinkers/naoro…
2/n The Grand Old Man of India is probably best known in the UK as being the first Asian MP to be elected to the House of Commons, but his economic analysis was vitally imp. The brilliance was he used the statistical data collated BY THE EMPIRE ITSELF to counter their pablum
3/n Though a member of the "moderate" wing of the INC (an organisation that he was a founding member of) he didn't shy away from harsh criticism of the Empire. Here's an extract from a 1901 speech in London where he makes the link between colonial depredations and famine clear 
4/n Here is Naoroji writing in his magnum opus "Poverty and Un-British rule in India" about the facile comparisons that the British made with pre-colonial imperial polities to justify their presence in India. Startlingly relevent to this day, both in the UK and back in India
