Indian National Congress: Sessions, Contributions & Resolutions

The Indian National Congress was formed when 72 delegates from all the presidencies and provinces of India met at Bombay form 28 to 30 December 1885. Allan Octavian Hume, a retired British official in India, played a leading role in the formation of the congress. He established contact with the some of the most important Indian leader all over the country and received their cooperation in forming the congress. Some of the important leaders, who attended this first session of the congress which was held at the Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, were Dadabhai Naoroji, Kashinath Trimbak Telang, Pherozeshah Mehta, S.Subramania Iyer, P. Ananda Charlu, Dinshaw Edalji Wacha, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, G. Subramania Iyer, M. Veeraraghavarchariar, N.G. Chandavarkar, Rahmatullah M. Sayani and Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee. An important leader who was absent was Surendranath Banerjee. He had convened a national conference around the same time at Calcutta.

The significance of the formation of the first national political organization in India was immediately realized. Barely a week after the session ended, a Calcutta newspaper, The Indian mirror, wrote, the first national congress at Bombay forms an important chapter in the history of British rule in India. The day on which it opened, namely, the 28th December 1885, will form a red letter day in the annals of the national progress of the native races. It is the nucleus of a future parliament for our country, and will lead to good of inconceivable magnitude for our countrymen. It was the day in which we, for the first time, met all our brothers of Madras, Bombay, the North-Western provinces and the Punjab, under the roof of the Gokul Das Tejpal Sanskrit college congress. From the date of this congress we may well count the more rapid development of national progress in India in future.

The first president of the congress was Womesh Chandra Banerjee. The objectives of the congress, as stated by him, were to bring together leaders from different parts of the country to remove all possible prejudices of race, religion and region, to discuss important problems facing the country, and to decide on the activities that the Indian leaders should take up. The congress passed nine resolutions which demanded changes in British policy and reforms in administration.

Aim and Objectives of the Congress (INC)

• Promotion of the friendship among the countrymen.
• Development and consolidation of feeling of national unity irrespective of race, caste, religion and provinces.
• Formation of popular demands and presentation before the Government through petitions.
• Training and organisation of public opinion.
• Consolidation of sentiments of national unity.
• Recording of the opinions of educated classes on pressing problems.
• Laying down lines for future course of action in public interest.

Sessions of Indian National Congress

GK Questions and Answers on History of India