First Session of Indian National Congress: History

With the opening of the first session of Indian National Congress (INC), the country’s future was being shaped. The first session of Congress was held in 1885. The British Indian Association, created by Allan Octavian Hume, had been lobbying for such a body. It is widely seen as the session that brought into being a nationwide nationalist movement.

This topic has been covered in both the preliminary and main stages of the UPSC exam pattern.

Features of the First Session of the INC

The first Indian National Congress session was organized by Allan Octavian Hume, a British official who believed that the creation of a political outfit would channel the discontent of the Indian people. Historians have challenged this theory and have stated that many forces were at play in the emergence of Congress. Here are some of the key features of the first session of the Indian National Congress:

1. The first meeting of the Indian National Congress was hosted from December 28 to December 31, 1885, by Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Bombay.
2. Though Poona was the original location, it was later moved to Bombay due to a plague outbreak in Poona.
3. 72 delegates from all over the country attended the first session.
4. None of the delegates were women. Most of them were from the background of Lawyers.
5. A well-known lawyer from Calcutta named Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee served as the first president of the INC session.
6. A.O. Hume was selected as a General Secretary.
7. Some delegates were: Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, Badruddin Tyyabji, Romesh Chunder Dutt, Dadabhai Naoroji, S Ramaswami Mudaliar, Pherozeshah Mehta, S. Subramania Iyer, and Surendranath Banerjee with other prominent leaders.
8. One of the founding members of INC was a British civil servant and an Englishmen A.O. Hume.
9. Apart from A.O. Hume, Justice John Jardine, and William Wedderburn are the other two Britishers who were the founding members of INC.
10. There were mostly Hindus and they are from Bombay and Madras.

Note: Several sessions were conducted across India at the year-end which was defined as a “memorandum” to submit the Indian political stance to the British government. The memorandum was therefore shared at each meeting.

Indian National Congress: Aims And Objectives

1. INC aimed to promote a national identity amongst the Indian people and to foster the feeling of national unity. The colonial administrators and ideologues argued that Indians could not be emancipated or untied since they were not a country. Rather, they were considered a geographical manifestation.
2. A rule that prohibited the adoption of resolutions without a significant majority of Muslim or Hindu delegates objecting was created at the 1888 session. This was done in an effort to be inclusive and soothe all religions and minorities.
3. When he served as President of the First Session of Congress, W.C. Bonnerjee stated that one of the goals of the Congress was to “eradicate all possible race, creed, or provincial prejudices among all lovers of our country.”
4. The Congress’s next major aim was to achieve a standardized platform around which political activists from across the country could congregate and perform their political operations, teaching and mobilizing people across the country.
5. In its second session, the Congress’s president, Dadabhai Naoroji, set a new rule. It stated that the National Congress shall limit itself to topics in which the entire nation is directly involved.

Resolutions Passed In The First Session Of INC

In the first session of the Indian National Congress, nine resolutions were considered, discussed, and laid down. They are:

1. Local and imperial legislative councils saw new scopes opening up due to the Indian Councils Act of 1861. They were granted increased responsibilities and their expansion and reform were created.
2. It demands the creation of the royal commission to look into India’s governance.
3. To address official concerns, the House of Commons has established a Standing Committee and legislative councils for the Northwest Province, Oudh, and Punjab.
4. The Government plans to hold simultaneous Public Service Examinations in England and India, as well as to raise the minimum age for eligibility to apply for these examinations.
5. There should be an end to the Indian Council of Secretary of State for India.
6. Spending on the military should be cut.
7. Protests against the invasion of Upper Burma and the proposed fusion with India.
8. All of the resolutions were to be delivered to political organizations all over the country for discussion and the formation of views.
9. The next meeting of the Congress was set for December 28, 1886, in Calcutta.

List Of Sessions Of Indian National Congress Before Independence (1885-1947)

Year	Location	President
1885	Bombay	W C Bonnerjee
1886	Calcutta	Dadabhai Naoroji
1887	Madras	Syed Badruddin Tyabji (first Muslim President)
1888	Allahabad	George Yule (first English President)
1889	Bombay	Sir William Wedderburn
1890	Calcutta	Feroz Shah Mehta
1891	Nagpur	P. Ananda Charlu
1892	Allahabad	W C Bonnerjee
1893	Lahore	Dadabhai Naoroji
1894	Madras	Alfred Webb
1895	Poona	Surendranath Banerjee
1896	Calcutta	Rahimtullah M. Sayani
1897	Amravati	C. Sankaran Nair
1898	Madras	Ananda Mohan Bose
1899	Lucknow	Romesh Chandra Dutt
1900	Lahore	N G Chandavarkar
1901	Calcutta	Dinshaw E. Wacha
1902	Ahmedabad	Surendranath Banerjee
1903	Madras	Lal Mohan Ghosh
1904	Bombay	Sir Henry Cotton
1905	Benares	Gopal Krishna Gokhale
1906	Calcutta	Dadabhai Naoroji
1907	Surat	Rash Behari Ghosh
1908	Madras	Rash Behari Ghosh
1909	Lahore	Madan Mohan Malaviya
1910	Allahabad	Sir William Wedderburn
1911	Calcutta	Bishan Narayan Dhar
1912	Bankipore (Patna)	Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar
1913	Karachi	Syed Mohammed
1914	Madras	Bhupendra Nath Basu
1915	Bombay	Satyendra Prasanna Sinha
1916	Lucknow	Ambica Charan Mazumdar (Re-union of the Congress- Joint session with Muslim League)
1917	Calcutta	Annie Besant (first woman President)
1918	Bombay And Delhi	Syed Hasan Imam (Bombay) And Madan Mohan Malaviya (Delhi)
1919	Amritsar	Motilal Nehru
1920	Nagpur	C Vijayaraghavachariar
1921	Ahmedabad	Hakim Ajmal Khan (acting President For C R Das)
1922	Gaya	C R Das
1923	Kakinada	Maulana Mohammad Ali
1924	Belgaum	M.K. Gandhi
1925	Kanpur	Sarojini Naidu (first Indian woman President)
1926	Guwahati	S Srinivasa Iyengar
1927	Madras	M A Ansari
1928	Calcutta	Motilal Nehru (first All India Youth Congress Formed)
1929	Lahore	Jawaharlal Nehru (Poorna Swaraj (Complete Independence) Resolution was passed)
1930	No Session	–
1931	Karachi	Vallabhbhai Patel (Here, the resolution on Fundamental Rights and the National Economic Program was passed)
1932	Delhi	Amrit Ranchhorddas Seth
1933	Calcutta	Malaviya Was Elected But Mrs. Nellie Sengupta Presided
1934	Bombay	Rajendra Prasad
1937	Lucknow	Jawaharlal Nehru (first session in a village)
1936	Faizpur	Jawaharlal Nehru
1938	Haripura	Subhas Chandra Bose (a National Planning Committed set-up under Jawaharlal Nehru).
1939	Tripuri	Subhash Chandra Bose
1940	Ramgarh	Abul Kalam Azad
1941-45	–	–
1946	Meerut	Acharya Kripalani

Conclusion

The Indian National Congress had many Indian leaders and delegates from all parts of India. The party launched with its earliest ambition to bring about social and political reform.

The Nationalists’ agenda for the first session included the establishment of Legislative Councils in the Northwest Province and a Standing Committee in the Parliament to consider formal protests. This session was marked by many political and social changes.

We hope this blog helped you with some closer insights into the rise of the Indian National Congress, its history, and key objectives that will help you with your UPSC preparation strategy.

FAQ On First Session Of Congress