Eternal India Encyclopedia

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Eternal India
encyclopedia
FREEDOM MOVEMENT
INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS
“It was a tear fallen from the suffering and agonized heart of a humanity in
bondage, come to life....That tear was destined to be a stream, the stream a river and
the river a mighty Ganges or Brahmaputra, which was to wash off the sins and
weakness of ages, to weld her people together, breathe new life and new spirit into
their hearts and carry them aloft united, purified and strengthened to their cherished
goal. It was to be a force unparalleled in the history of the world. Its unarmed and
unsophisticated armies were to spread the message and undertake a mission the
world has heard and worked for, only on rare occasions.
That message was to cast off fear of everything and fight with indomitable will
and courage for truth with the weapons of non-violence and love. It implied faith
in the ultimate success of truth and non-violence and in the unfailing capacity of love
to win over.” - Sankar Ghose, Indian National Congress.
A new era in political life of
India began with the foundation of
the Indian National Congress to-
wards the end of the year 1885. For
the next two decades it completely
dominated the political life of India
and gave a new dimension to the
administrative and constitutional
reforms.
A. O. Hume, a retired British
civil servant, was the founder of the
Indian National Congress.
He was born in 1829, passed
the ICS (India) in 1843. In 1870 he
was appointed the Secretary to the
Government of India and Lt.
Governor of Punjab by Lord Lytton,
but Hume turned it down. He retired
in 1882 and began to evolve a
constructive scheme for creating a
strong public opinion in India. Later
Hume had to change the scheme as
per the wishes of Lord Dufferin;
“the Congress was to act as a safety-
valve for popular discontentment.”
However, Hume clearly wanted the
Congress to serve the interests of the
Indian people. This is evident from
his circular dated 1-3-1883 to the
graduates of the Calcutta University.
He wrote "Constituting as you do, a
large body of the most highly
educated Indians, you should....
constitute the most important source
of all mental, moral, social and
political progress in India... all vital
progress must spring from within,
and it is to you.... that your country
must look for the initiative. In vain
many aliens like myself love India
and her children; in vain may they
struggle and sacrifice; they may
place their experience, ability and
knowledge... but they lack the
essential of nationality, and the real
work must ever be done by the people
of the country themselves".
He added: ''If only 50 men,
good and true, can be found to join
as founders, the thing can be estab-
lished and the future development
would be comparatively easy."
Hume's initiative did not fail, his
words fell on right ears and the new
era began in India with the establish-
ment of the Indian National Con-
gress in 1885 .
Aims of the Congress
The main aim and object of the
Indian National Congress was the
“attainment of Swarajya or Self
Rule." Mahatma Gandhi made it
clear while speaking on the Swaraj
Resolution at the 1920 Congress
Session.
He said "the object of the Indian
National Congress is the attainment
of Swarajya by the people of India by
all legitimate and peaceful means
....” The other aim of the Congress
was “to represent the whole of India,
all interests; its platform was
universal. ” This was clear from
Gandhi's statement on the aims of
the Congress at the November 1931
Congress.
CONGRESS SESSIONS
Year Session Place President
1885 1st Bombay W. C. Bannerjee
1886 2nd Calcutta Dadabhai Naoroji
1887 3rd Madras Badruddin Tyabji
1888 4th Allahabad George Yule
1889 5th Bombay Sir William Wedderbum
1890 6th Calcutta Pherozeshah Mehta
1891 7th Nagpur P. Anand Charlu
1892 8th Allahabad W. C. Bannerjee
1893 9th Lahore Dadabhai Naoroji
1894 10th Madras Alfred Webb
1895 11th Poona Surendranath Bannerjee
1896 12th Calcutta Rahmatullah Sayani
1897 13th Amraoti C. Sankaran Nair
1898 14th Madras Ananda Mohan Bose
1899 15th Lucknow R. C. Dutt
1900 16th Lahore N. G. Chandavarkar
1901 17th Calcutta D. C. Wacha
1902 18th Ahmedabad Surendranath Bannerjee
1903 19th Madras Lai Mohan Ghose
1904 20th Bombay Henry Cotton
1905 21st Benares Gopal Krishna Gokhale
1906 22nd Calcutta Dadabhai Naoroji -> (see 116)
1907 23rd Surat Rash Behari Ghose
1908 24th Madras Rash Behari Ghose
1909 25th Lahore Madan Mohan Malaviya
1910 26th Allahabad Sir William Wedderbum
1911 27th Calcutta Bishan Narayan Dhar
1912 28th Bankipur R. N. Mudholkar
1913 29th Karachi Syed Mohammed
1914 30th Madras Bhupendranath Basu
1915 31st Bombay S. P. Sinha
1916 32nd Lucknow A. C. Mazumdar
1917 33rd Calcutta Annie Besant
1918 Special Bombay Syed Hasan Imam
1918 34th Delhi Madan Mohan Malaviya
1919 35th Amritsar Motilal Nehru
1920 Special Calcutta Lala Lajpat Rai
1920 36th Nagpur C. Vijayaraghavachariar
1921 37th Ahmedabad Hakum Ajmal Khan
1922 38th Gaya C. R. Das
1923 Special Delhi Abul Kalam Azad
1923 39th Cocanada Mohamed Ali
1924 40th Belgaum Mahatma Gandhi
1925 41st Kanpur Sarojini Naidu
1926 42nd Gauhati S. Srinivasa Iyengar
1927 43rd Madras M. A. Ansari
1928 44th Calcutta Motilal Nehru
1929 45th Lahore Jawaharlal Nehru
1931 46th Karachi Vallabhbhai Patel
1932 47th Delhi Ranchhordas Amritlal
1933 48th Calcutta Nellie Sen Gupta
1934 49th Bombay Rajendra Prasad
1936 50th Lucknow Jawaharlal Nehru
1936 51st Faizpur Jawaharlal Nehru
1938 52nd Haripura Subhas Chandra Bose
1939 53rd Tripuri Subhas Chandra Bose
1940 54th Ramgarh Abul Kalam Azad
1946 55th Meerut J. B. Kripalani
(* Subsequent sessions refer -> Vol. II Polity , Sec-K.)