Cyrus Todiwala on Dadabhai Naoroji
Great Lives
BBC
4.2 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 27 September 2016
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Chef Cyrus Todiwala chooses Dadabhai Naoroji, the 'Grand Old Man of India' who in 1892 became Britain's first Asian MP for Finsbury Central.
He later returned to India and petitioned for the country to be self-governing. Gandhi, who was Dadabhai's mentee, would later refer to him as the Father of the Nation.
Matthew Parris presents and Zerbanoo Gifford is the expert.
Producer: Toby Field
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2016.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Great Lives is a download from Radio 4. We hope you enjoy what you're about to hear. |
| 0:05.6 | In 1899, the Madras Standard printed the following. |
| 0:09.8 | If India were a republic and the republic had a right to elect its own president. |
| 0:14.0 | The man who, by the unanimous voice of his countrymen, would have been elected its uncrowned |
| 0:19.1 | king is Dadaabai Nauraji. |
| 0:21.6 | No Indian is more loved, more honored, more esteemed throughout the length |
| 0:26.4 | and breadth of India than he. That's quite a tribute. The man choosing Dada Baye Naurogy is chef and restaurateur Cyrus Toddivala, owner of Café Spice Namaste in London. He's cooked for presidents and royalty, including Her Majesty the Queen on her diamond |
| 0:45.2 | jubilee tour, but he's perhaps best known for his TV appearances on shows such as Saturday |
| 0:50.5 | Kitchen and as one half of the incredible spice men. |
| 0:54.4 | Cyrus, why have you picked Dadaabai Nauraji? |
| 0:57.6 | Dadaabai Nauraji stood out for us when I was a child of course everybody spoke about the man. Now in India people would |
| 1:04.4 | know less of him unfortunately, but he was the person who Mahama Gandhi once called |
| 1:09.7 | the father of the nation. So Dadaabai Nauraji was known to have been the mentor for |
| 1:15.2 | Mahatma Gandhi while he was studying over here and he influenced in years to |
| 1:20.5 | come people like Nelson Mandela etc as well. So the other by |
| 1:24.3 | Nauriger is a huge character. He broke the barrier of the first ever known |
| 1:30.3 | British member of parliament to be elected into parliament. |
| 1:34.0 | He broke that barrier. |
| 1:35.0 | He also, of course, was known for his outstanding approach on various topics that he stood firm on, |
| 1:42.0 | including women's rights at the time |
| 1:44.8 | when women did not have equal rights or did not come into a public eye as being |
| 1:49.9 | equal to men and he actually was one of the first advocates of equality amongst women. |
... |
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