The Indian National Conference was founded in 1883 in Kolkata. Its first meeting was convened by Surendranath Banerjee. It offered a model for the Indian National Congress which was formed two years later.
Formation of the Indian National Congress
Many leaders such as Surendranath Banerjee, Dadabhai Naoroji, Feroz Shah Mehta, and Justice Ranade were looking forward to establishing an all-India organization. At this time, A. O. Hume, a retired British civil servant, wanted to set up an organized forum for the government to draw the attention of the government towards its drawbacks. He did this to avoid the outbreak of any revolt similar to the magnitude of the revolt of 1857. The Indian National Congress was thus founded by A. O. Hume in 1885 in consultation with the other Indian leaders. Its first meeting was supposed to be held at Pune, but as plague broke out in the city, the venue was shifted to Mumbai. Lord Dufferin favored the formation of the Indian National Congress to keep the government informed of the aspirations of the people.
The first session of the Indian National Congress was held in December 1885 under the presidentship of W. C. Bonnerjee. Its demands in the early years were.
- To develop and consolidate the feelings of national unity irrespective of caste, class and religion. Greater representation of Indians in legislative bodies .
- To form legislative councils in the provinces which had no such political body.
- To appoint Indians on higher position in government offices.
- To hold Civil Service Examinations in India and not just in London The first session of the Indian National Congress was attended by 72 delegates from all over India.
It included renowned personalities such as Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozeshah Mehta, Badruddin Tyabji, Justice Ranade, and G. Subramania Iyer. The second session of the Indian National Congress was held at Kolkata.
An important development took place in the Congress session held in 1907 under the Presidentship of Rashbehari Ghosh. The Congress was split into moderates and extremists. These two wings of the Congress were united at the Lucknow session held in 1916.
You May Read
Growth of Nationalism
The main aim of British policies in India was to promote their own trade interests. They exploited the Indian economy to such an extent that India became one of the poorest countries within two centuries of British rule. Read more
Independence and partition of India
India’s freedom struggle entered a new phase by the end of the Second World War. This period was extremely uneasy and difficult because the Indian National Army (INA) had met an unfortunate end, memories of Quit India Movement were still fresh and the Muslim League was vociferously demanding for the creation of a separate state of Pakistan. Read more
Comments are closed.