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IV
session - 1890 - Calcutta
President: Pherozeshah Mehta
The chief feature of this session was
that the government publicly declared the
INC to be
"perfectly legitimate”
and al-
lowed public servants to attend it.
As a consequence of the efforts of Charles
Bradlaugh the British Parliament passed
the
Indian Councils Act of 1892;
though
disappointing the Congress hailed it as the
first victory of the constitutional agitation
started by it.
"Henceforth the Congress did never
falter in its onward march from year to
year, buoyed up with courage and hope
for ultimate success. Though there was
no essential change either in its ideal
and outlook, or in its method of agita-
tion, it came to be gradually recognized
both by friends and foes, in India and in
Britain, to be a potent force in the public
life of India."
V
session - 1891 - Nagpur
President: P. Anand Charlu
During this session among other things, a
resolution about the economic conditions of
the people was passed, which reads:
"That this Congress concurring in the view
set forth in previous Congresses, affirms -
That fully fifty millions of the population,
a number yearly increasing, are dragging out
a miserable existence on the verge of starva-
tion, and that, in every decade, several mil-
lions actually perish of starvation.
That this unhappy condition of affairs is
largely due to -
IX - session - 1893 - Lahore
President: Dadabhai Naoroji.
The Congress passed the resolution point-
ing out that
'material alterations are neces-
sary alike in the rules of the Government of
India and in the practice of most of the local
governments, if real effect is to be given to the
spirit of the Act.'
In 1904, the Congress went one step fur-
ther and demanded representation of Indians
in the British House of Commons. It also
asked for
"the appointment of Indian repre-
sentatives (who shall be nominated by the
elected members of the Legislative Councils)
as members of the Indian Council in Lon-
don...."
The Congress year after year passed reso-
lutions protesting the abuses and urging for
reforms in all spheres of administration; simi-
larly trial by jury, police reforms, tax reduc-
tion etc., comprised the contents of many
resolutions.
In 1898 the Congress expressed
"its deep
sense of disapproval of the reactionary policy
of Government with regard to the local self-
government, recently inaugurated by the in-
troduction of the Calcutta Municipal Bill into
the Bengal Legislative Council, the creation
of the Bombay City Improvement Trust with-
out adequate popular representation, and its
action in other directions."
At the 1901 Congress the Chairman of the
reception committee made a statement on the
'development of Indian industries.'
It reads as:
"We cannot live in ignorance of the su-
preme importance which industry has assumed
in modern civilisation. In these days every
Eternal India
encyclopedia
FREEDOM MOVEMENT
him the name
'Member of India'
in the House
of Commons.
A scheme of representative government
was drafted in this session; the Congress
also resolved to send a deputation to Eng-
land to express its views on political re-
forms in India.
The fifth session took a significant de-
parture from earlier sessions; the policy of
appealing to people to follow the path of the
Congress was abandoned and Hume's pro-
posal of
"to approach the great English nation
to do justice to India ”
was pursued; the Indian
National Congress henceforth adopted the
sacred creed :
"appeals to unselfishness, to jus-
tice and to humanity will ever find a sure
response from the great heart of the British
people."
*
The exclusion of the people of India from
a due participation in the administration.
*
The extravagant cost of the present ad-
ministration.
*
A short-sighted system of Land
Revenue Administration.
That hence it has become imperatively
necessary-
That the cost of the administration be
greatly reduced; and, in the Civil Branch, by
the wide substitution of a cheaper indige-
nous agency for the extremely costly im-
ported staff..."
The above resolution is an indication of
representation of popular feelings by the
INC and it also reveals the fact that its
criticisms were constructive in a way to
reveal the greatest evil of British admini-
stration.
political question is at bottom an economic
one. It seems that henceforward markets are
to be the battle-fields where destinies of na-
tions will be decided. With the average Euro-
pean, it is a fixed idea that in the pre-estab-
lished harmony of the universe, Europe is to
sell and Asia to buy. But we cannot help
feeling that our thoughts and energies cannot
be better employed than in the work of effect-
ing a revival and development of our indus-
tries. "
XVIII - session
1902 - Ahmedabad
President: Surendranath Banerji.
The President of the session put forward
the demand for protection of Indian industries
which reads thus:
"Our infant industries need protection.
But the Government wedded to the tradi-
tions of free trade, will not grant them pro-
tection. If, however, protection by legisla-
tive enactment is impossible, may we not,
by the fiat of national will, afford them such
protection as may lie in our power if we
resolve in our heart of hearts to avail
overselves, wherever practicable, of in-
digenous articles in preference to foreign
goods.... Our industrial helplessness is
even more deplorable than our political im-
potency.... Let it never be forgotten that po-
litical rights minister to material progress
and that an unenfranchised people can
never work out their industrial salvation."
The Preisdential speech of Surendra Nath
Banerjee; speaking on New Imperialism, he
said:
"Imperialism has always been syn-
onymous with autocracy. In ancient
Rome, as in modern France, imperial-
ism meant the supersession of popu-
lar authority and the establishment of
one-man authority
........
British imperi-
alism implies the closer union-the
more intimate federation between the
English-speaking
subjects
of
His
Majesty. We stand outside the pale
of this federation. We are not permit-
ted to enter the threshold of the Holy
of Holies. We are privileged only to
serve and to admire from a dis-
tance.... "
About "Our
Heritage"
he said,
"The
triumphs of liberty are not won in a day.
Liberty is a jealous goddess, exacting in her
worship and claiming from her votaries