Indian National Congress

INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS (INC)

Opinions	Person
INC is a begging Institute	Aurobindo Ghosh
INC playing with bubbles	Bipin Chandra Pal
INC should distinguish between begging and claiming its rights.	Bal Gangadhar Tilak
INC represents only a microscopic minority.	Lord Dufferin (Viceroy from 1884-1888)

• Founded by Allan Octavian Hume in 1885
• Earlier known as Indian National Union
• The name Indian National Congress was suggested by Dadabhai Naoroji
• The term 'Congress' was borrowed from US Constitution
• Lord Dufferin was the viceroy of India when INC was formed

Important sessions of INC:

• 1st session - Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, Bombay - WC Banerjee (President) - 1885
• Attended by 72 delegates
• 2nd session - Calcutta - Dadabhai Naoroji - 1886 - First Parsi President
• 3rd session - Madras - Badruddin Tyabji - 1887 - First Muslim President
• 4th session - Allahabad - George Yule - 1888 - First English President
• 1896 - Calcutta - Rahimatullah Sayani 
• Vande Mataram sung for the 1st time by Tagore
• 1st Muslim lady to sing Vande Mataram - Raihana Tyabji
• 1899 - Lucknow - Romesh Chandradath 
• Demand for permanent fixation of land revenue
• Congress demanded that the British government put a stop to the 'drain of wealth' from India to England
• 1901 - Calcutta - Dinshaw-e-wacha 
• Gandhiji participated for 1st time
• 1905 - Benaras - Gopal Krishan Gokhale 
• Formal proclamation of Swadeshi movement against government
• 1906 - Calcutta - Dadabhai Naoroji - 'Swaraj' was mentioned for the first time
• The resolutions of Calcutta session of 1906 included:
• Congress would demand for Swaraj on the lines of white colonies
• Resolution on Swadeshi
• Resolution on Boycott
• Resolution on National Education
• 1907 - Surat - Rash Behari Ghosh 
• INC split into two - Moderates led by Gokhale and Extremists led by Tilak
• Moderates Phase - 1885-1905 - Headed by Gokhale, Rash Behari Ghosh
• Extremists Phase - 1905-1920 - Headed by Lal, Bal, Pal
• 1909 - Lahore - Madan Mohan Malviya 
• Congress expressed disapproval over the formation of separate electorates based on religion (Indian Councils Act 1909)
• 1910 - Allahabad - William Wedderburn 
• Jinnah opposed separate electorate system
• 1911 - Calcutta - Bishan Narayan Dar
• 'Jana Gana Mana' was sung for the first time (27th Dec 1911) 
• Jana Gana Mana - Originally composed as Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata in Bengali by Rabindranath Tagore
• The first stanza of the song was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India as the National Anthem on 24 January 1950
• The lyrics of the song first appeared in 5 stanzas in Bengali magazine in an issue of Tatwabodhini Patrika
• The song was selected as the national anthem by Subhas Chandra Bose 
• 1916 - Lucknow - Ambica Charan Mazumdar 
• Lucknow Pact was signed, World War 1 was in progress
• Lucknow Pact - Agreement between the INC and the Muslim League (AIML)
• Agreed to allow representation to religious minorities in the provincial legislatures
• Bal Gangadhar Tilak represented the Congress and Muhammad Ali Jinnah (who joined the Muslim League in 1913)
• Sarojini Naidu gave Jinnah the title "Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity"
• 1917 - Calcutta - Annie Besant - First woman President
• 1919 - Amritsar - Motilal Nehru 
• Strongly condemned Jallianwala Bagh Massacre and boosted Khilafat Movement
• Jallianwala Bagh massacre aka Amritsar massacre took place on 13 April 1919
• A large crowd had gathered at Jallianwala Bagh to protest against the Rowlatt Act (Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act of 1919) and the arrest of Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr. Satyapal
• The Hunter Commission (formally known as the Disorders Investigation Committee) was established on October 14th, 1919 to look into the Jallianwala Bagh incident on the orders of Edwin Montagu, the then Secretary of State for India
• Gandhi returned Kaiser-i-Hind & Rabindranath Tagore returned his knighthood in 1919 because of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre
• The Lieutenant Governor, Michael O’ Dwyer who was believed to be the key planner of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, was assassinated by Udham Singh on 13th March 1940
• India as I Knew It - book by Michael O' Dwyer
• September 1920 - Calcutta - Lala Lajpat Rai 
• Passed a resolution for the Non-Cooperation Movement
• December 1920 - Nagpur - C Vijayaragacharya
• Jinnah left INC, Reconstitution of Congress on linguistic basis
• 1923 - Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh) - Moulana Mohammed Ali
• T. K. Madhavan moved a resolution for the eradication of untouchability at the Kakinada session of the Indian National Congress (INC)
• 1924 - Belgaum - M.K Gandhi - Only session where Gandhiji was president
• 1925 - Kanpur - Sarojini Naidu - First Indian woman president
• 1927 - Madras - M.A Ansari - Resolved to boycott Simon Commission
• 1928 - Calcutta - Motilal Nehru 
• 19th Dec 1929 - Lahore - Poorna Swaraj - Jawaharlal Nehru
• Decided to launch Civil Disobedience Movement
• 1931 - Karachi - Vallabhai Patel - Gandhi-Irwin Pact
• Gandhi Irwin Pact (aka the Delhi Pact) was an agreement signed between Mahatma Gandhi and Lord Irwin on 5th March 1931
• Regarding Gandhi-Irwin Pact, Nehru remarked "This is the way world ends, not with a bang but a whimper"
• 1937 - Faizpur (MH) - J. Nehru 
• First session in a village
• 1938 - Haripura - SC Bose 
• National Planning Commission was set up under Nehru
• 1946 - Meerut - J.B Kriplani 
• Last pre-independence session (54th session)
• 1947 - Delhi - Rajendra Prasad
• 1948 - Jaipur - Pattabhi Sitaramayya - First session after independence