British MP Shapurji Saklatvala was “the most
important Indian nationalist” outside India
Aditya Iyer
In November 1905, a ship docked at London, which was the center of an empire that was witnessing a growing independence movement in its most valuable colony – India. On board was Shapurji Saklatvala, a member of the influential Tata family, fresh from Bombay and in Blightly (slang for Great Britain) ostensibly to run the family’s business ventures there.
Instead, Saklatvala would become the third ever Indian to be elected to the British Parliament and would use his position as member of Parliament (MP) to so vehemently agitate on behalf of the nationalist movement that a 1925 issue of the Daily Graphic would......