Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

FREEDOM MOVEMENT

INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS

CONGRESS SESSIONS

“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.

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

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 . 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. Aims of the 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.

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

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

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.)