The\nIndian National Congress was founded in 1885 as a result of the initiative and\nefforts of A. O. Hume, a retired British officer from Poona (Pune). Sir W. C.\nBonnerjee presided over the first session of the Indian National Congress held\nin Bombay (Mumbai). \u201cThe history of the Congress is really the history of\nIndia\u2019s struggle for freedom,\u201d said Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya, the veteran\nCongress leader and one of its presidents. In fact, long before the Congress\ncame into being, there were several other organisations that wrested\nconcessions from the British.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Forerunners\nof the Congress<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The\npeople of India did not reconcile to the British rule. As early as in 1829,\nRaja Rammohun Roy, Father of the Indian Renaissance and Nationalism, protested\nagainst the Jury Act and organised a petition signed by the Hindus and Muslims.\nThis Act had made a clear-cut distinction between Europeans and Indians. It\ndenied the Hindu and Muslim judges the right to try Europeans and Indian\nChristians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In\n1833, Devendranath Tagore organised the Landholders\u2019 Society. The landholders of Bengal, Assam and\nBihar came together to protect their interests through this Society. In 1843,\nthe Bengal British India Society was formed to promote the interests of the\nnatives by peaceful means. In 1851, the Bengal Society and the Landholders\u2019\nSociety were merged to form the British Indian Association. It owned the Hindu\nPatriot, <\/em>the first Indian paper. It was joined by many eminent Indians. It\nhas been described as \u201cpioneer in political agitation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In\nMadras (Chennai), the Madras Native Association was established in 1852. It\nsubmitted a petition to the British Parliament protesting against excessive\ntaxation, demanding cheap and speedy justice, a better system of education,\nirrigation and public works, proposed economy in expenditure and grant of local\nself-government working for the welfare of people. If the Hindu Patriot <\/em>was\ngiving expression to the grievances of the people of Bengal, the Crescent <\/em>did\nthe same in Madras. The Crescent <\/em>took up a crusade against the\nconversion of Hindus to Christianity, among other matters. In Poona, the public\nwelfare work was carried on by eminent persons like S. H. Chiplonkar and K. L.\nNulkar through Poona Sarvajanik Sabha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In\nBombay, the Bombay Association was formed on the initiative of Jagannath\nSankarsett in January 1885. It was later replaced by the Bombay Presidency\nAssociation. It was led by eminent persons like Pherozeshah Mehta, Sir Dinshaw\nE. Wacha, Badruddin Tyabji, K. T. Telang and others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In\nDecember 1885, after the Annual Conference of the Theosophical Society at\nAdyar, 17 prominent Indians from all parts of the country met \u201cto find ways and\nmeans of bringing together Indian politicians to inaugurate a political\nmovement\u2014to promote a future advance towards Swaraj\u201d. They formed themselves\ninto a provisional committee as a potential forum for further consultations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prominent\npolitical leaders felt that an all-India organisation was necessary.\nConsequently, the India League came into being in 1875. This was soon replaced\nby the Indian Association, founded in 1876 by Surendranath Bannerjee, who could\nrightly be called \u2018Father of the Nationalist Movement in India\u2019. He was the\nfirst Indian to pass the Indian Civil Service Examination. The objects of the\nIndian Association included unification of the Indian people upon the basis of\ncommon political interests and aspirations, and creation of strong public\nopinion. It led the agitation against reduction in age requirements for\ncompetitions in England. The age was reduced to 19 years, which made it more\ndifficult for Indians to go abroad and compete. It demanded raising the age for\ncompetition, a simultaneous competition to be held in India and greater\nassociation of Indians in administration. Surendranath Bannerjee toured the\ncountry and developed the movement into an all-India agitation. The Association\nalso carried on agitations against the Vernacular Press Act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Reaction\nagainst the The agitation carried on by the Anglo-Indians against the Ilbert Bill\nand its success taught a lesson to the natives. It was a lesson of struggle.\nIndians felt assured that the only way to get concessions from the British\nGovernment was by organising agitations. The Association took up the question\nof a representative government and campaigned for reform of the Councils. In\nDecember 1883, the Association held its first National Conference in Calcutta\n(Kolkata). Attended by delegates from all over the country, it was described as\n\u201cthe first stage towards a National Parliament\u201d. In 1884, the Association\nwelcomed Lord Dufferin, the then Governor-General of India, and presented to\nhim a memorandum demanding reform of Councils and extension of their rights and\npowers, particularly the control of budget and the right of members to ask\nquestions. The Second National Conference was held in Bombay in December 1885,\non the eve of the Congress session. Its demands were the same as those of the\nCongress. These included Reform of Councils, modification of Arms Act with a\nview to giving Indians the right to bear arms, separation of the Judiciary from\nthe Executive, reform of police administration, etc. The Association, thus,\nrepresented the political consciousness of that time. It would have become the\npremier political organisation of the country had the Congress not been founded\nat this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Formation\nof the Congress<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The\ninitiative for the formation of the Congress was taken by Allen Octavian Hume\n(1829-1912). He retired from the Civil Service in 1880 and settled in Simla. In\n1883, he sent a letter to the \u2018Graduates\u2019 of Calcutta University to serve their\nmotherland and work for the moral, material, social and political progress of\nthe country. He made an appeal to find 50 men who could form a union for the\ntask. Consequently, the Indian National Union was founded. This Union was\nchanged into the Indian National Congress in 1885.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nfirst session of the Congress was held in December 1885 in Bombay. It was\npresided over by Sir W. C. Bonnerjee. This session expressed loyalty of the\nIndian people towards the British Government in clear and unequivocal terms. In\na way, the Indian National Congress was formed to establish close cooperation\nbetween the British administration and the Indian people, and stabilise the\nrelations between the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\nare different viewpoints as to why A. O. Hume, a retired British bureaucrat,\nfounded the Congress. One view is that he founded it with the blessings of Lord\nDufferin to save the Empire from violent overthrow. It was to act as \u2018His\nMajesty\u2019s Opposition in the House of Commons\u2019. The middle class intelligentsia\nwas sought to be brought under it so that their agitation could be directed on\nconstitutional lines, lest they should become revolutionary or radical. Lala\nLajpat Rai and Sir W. Wedderburn held this view strongly. Hume himself\nconsidered the Congress as a \u201csafety valve for revolutionary discontent\u201d.\nAccording to Wedderburn, the repressive legislation denying political liberties\nlike the freedom of the press, freedom of association and local\nself-government, independence of the universities and police repression brought\nIndia within a measurable distance of a revolutionary outbreak and Hume\nintervened to save the British rule from an imminent revolution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Whatever\nmight have been the reasons of Hume, there was an idea of some sort of an\nall-India organisation to coordinate the activities of different organisations\nfunctioning in various provinces. The Congress soon became the medium for\npolitical aspirations of the Indian people. Lord Dufferin, who had blessed the\nfoundation of the Congress, described it as a revolutionary body. It soon\nbecame the \u201cplatform of anti-imperialism\u201d and was described by bureaucrats as\nthe \u201cfactory of sedition\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aims\nand Objectives of Indian National Congress<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Congress started as an organisation of the educated middle class\nin India, consisting of businessmen, professional lawyers, medical men,\nteachers, professors, etc. In the initial stages, its main aim was to secure\nthe right of recruitment of Indians in the higher civil services under the\nBritish administration. Thus, to begin with, the Congress was just a\nnon-political association of Indian intelligentsia who simply wanted to get\nsome concessions from the British authorities through appeals, memoranda and\npetitions. During the period between 1897 and 1908, people of India became very\nrestless on account of the oppressive and thoughtless policy of British\nbureaucracy in India. In 1906, the Congress adopted the resolution of\n\u201cself-government\u201d. The extremist movement led by Lal-Bal-Pal (Lala Lajpat Rai,\nBal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal) and the Home Rule Movement of Dr.\nAnnie Besant became very strong. From 1919 onwards, began the Gandhi era in\nCongress. The Congress became a mass movement and a united platform for the\nstruggle for independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nFirst Phase : The\nfirst session of the Congress was held in Bombay in December 1885 under the\npresidentship of W. C. Bonnerjee. It was\nattended by 72 delegates which included Dadabhai Naoroji, K. T. Telang,\nPherozeshah Mehta, D. E. Wacha, Thus,\nthe demands were very moderate and limited. The Congress was then just a forum\nfor the expression of minor demands of the educated community of India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At\nthe second session, attended by 434 delegates, the Congress demanded reform of\nCouncils with 50 percent elected and 50 percent nominated members. They\nconceded indirect election and the right of the Government to override the\nCouncils. This demand was repeated at the subsequent sessions till the Councils\nAct of 1892 was passed. It loyally accepted the Act and, in 1893, it thanked\nthe Government for its liberal spirit in giving effect to the Act, though it\nrecommended some minor amendments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nCongress went on becoming more popular year after year. The third session held\nin Madras was attended by 607 delegates; the fourth and fifth sessions (in\nAllahabad and Bombay) by 1,248 and 1,889 delegates, respectively. However, it\nremained a middle class-dominated and loyalist organisation. In 1895,\nSurendranath Bannerjee called it an organisation of \u201ceducated community\u201d.\nPresiding over the Congress in 1890, Pherozeshah Mehta said that the Congress\nwas not the \u201cvoice of the masses\u201d; it was the duty of the \u201ceducated\ncompatriots\u201d to interpret their demands. In 1886, Dadabhai Naoroji assessed the\nloyalty of the Congress to the British in the following words: \u201cWe are loyal to\nthe backbone.\u201d He appealed to the Government not to drive the Congress into\nopposition. Ananda Mohan Bose, President of the Congress in 1898, said that the\neducated classes of India \u201care the friends and not the foes of England\u2014her\nnatural and necessary allies in the great work that lies before her.\u201d The\nCongress, thus, did not represent masses, nor had it the representatives of the\npeasants, the workers and the common masses. Its demands were limited to have\nthe greater association of educated Indians in the Councils and services. It\nwas, by and large, an organisation of newly arising middle class in the Indian\nsociety which consisted of enterprising industrialists, progressive\nbusinessmen, and aspiring intellectuals like professors, lawyers and doctors. \n\nIt may be further pointed out that the Indian National Congress was\npredominantly a Hindu organisation, even though the sixth session was attended\nby 156 Muslims out of 702 delegates (22 percent), as compared to two Muslims in\nthe first session and 33 in the second. The nature of its demands could not\nand, did not, attract Muslims who were backward in education at that time. The\nfirst phase of the Congress ended with the passage of the Act of 1892 and its\nloyal acceptance by the Congress.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Indian National Congress was founded in 1885 as a result of the initiative and efforts of A. O. Hume, a retired British officer from Poona (Pune). Sir W. C. Bonnerjee presided over the first session of the Indian National Congress held in Bombay (Mumbai). \u201cThe history of the Congress is really the history of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":637,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636\/revisions\/637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIlbert Bill<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nEra of Cooperation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nP. Rangia Naidu, P. Ananda Charlu, M. Viraraghav Achariar, amongst professors,\nlawyers, editors, writers and scholars. The main demands put forward at this\nsession included: (1) Reform of Legislative Councils and acceptance of election\nin place of nomination as a principle to constitute them; (2) A simultaneous\nexamination for the ICS to be held in India and England; (3) Reduction of\nmilitary expenditure; (4) Opposition to the annexation of Upper Burma with\nIndia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n