Indian National Congress Foundation Day: A Milestone in India’s Political History
Table of Content:
Indian National Congress Foundation Day
• In September, 1884 at the Adyar Conference of the Theosophical Society, there was discussion of a countrywide organization. Under this, an organization named Indian National Union (INU) came into existence.
• At the behest of Dadabhai Naoroji, it was named Indian National Congress (INC).
• The term 'Congress' was taken from North America.
• On 28 December 1885, the Congress was founded by retired British officer A.O. Hume.
• William Vanderburne wrote a biographical memoir of AO Hume. Hume was an ornithologist and he started the publication of a magazine called 'Friend of the People'.
• Its first session was proposed at Poona but because of an outbreak of plague in Poona, the venue was shifted to Bombay.
• On 28 December, 1885 the first session of Congress was held at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, which was presided over by Womesh Chandra Banerjee.
• In the first session total 72 members participated.
• 9 resolutions were passed in this, out of which not a single resolution was related to farmers and labourers.
• At the time of the establishment of the Congress, the Governor General was Lord Dufferin and the Secretary of India was Lord Cross.
• Lala Lajpat Rai used the safety valve theory in his newspaper Young India in the establishment of Congress and claiming that Congress was the brainchild of Dufferin's.
• Badruddin Tyabji became the first Muslim president in the third session of the Congress (Madras).
• 'Vande Mataram' was sung for the first time in the Calcutta session of the Congress (1896).
• In the Surat session of the Congress (1907), the first division of the Congress took place.
• 'Jana Gana Mana' was sung for the first time in the Calcutta session of Congress (1911).
• In the Lucknow session of the Congress (1916), an agreement reached between the Naram and Garam Dal and between the Congress and the Muslim League.
• In the Lahore session of the Congress (1929), there was a demand for complete independence for India.
• The first session of the Congress after independence was held in Jaipur (Raj.), whose president was Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya.