Revision Notes: Indian National Congress - BPSC (Bihar) PDF Download

• The first political association Bangabhasa Prakasika Sabha was formed in 1836. In July 1838 the Zamindari Association, more popularly known as the Landholders Society of Calcutta cooperated with the British India Society founded by Mrs. Adams in London in July 1939. In April 1839 the Bengal British India Society was founded. Landholders’ Society and Bengal British India Society were merged into a new one named the British India Association on 19 October 1851.

• In September 1875 Shishir Kumar Ghose founded the India League. Within a year of its foundation, the India League was superseded by the Indian Association founded on 26 July, 1876 by Anand Bose and Surendranath Banerjee. The Indian Association organised an all India agitation against the lowering of I.C.S. examination age from 21 to 19.
• The Bombay Association was founded on 26 August, 1852. The Bombay Presidency Association in 1883 was organised by the popularly called brothers-in-law—Mehta, Telang and Tyabji. At Poona, the Poona Sarvajanic Sabha was established in 1867. The Madras Mahajan Sabha was formed in 1884.

The following may be described as the causes of the formation of the Indian National Congress:

• Vernacular Press Act imposed by Lord Lytton, which resulted in a widespread discontent in the country.
• Second Afghan War. The Indians felt that the British by waging Second Afghan War (1878-80) had unnecessarily intruded into Afghan affairs.
• Lord Ripon’s Liberal Policy engendered political awakening and thirst for sharing the local administration.
• Ilbert Bill. The controversy that ensued between the Indians and the British Government over the Ilbert Bill made the former alive to the necessity of having an All India political organisation to forge a united opposition to anti-national measures of the Government.
• In 1885 under the inspiration of Allan Octavian Hume (1829-1912) and the silent encouragement of Dufferin, the Viceroy, the Indian National Congress was established.
• In March 1883, Hume had addressed a letter to the graduates of the Calcutta University advising them to conduct a firm struggle for securing freedom and affirming “they who would be freed themselves must strike the blow.”
• After his retirement from the I.C.S., Hume organized an Indian National Union in 1884 which released a memorandum for the meeting of an Indian National Conference.
• This proposed conference met on 28 December, 1885 at the Gokuldas Tejpal High School and this was the birth of the Indian National Congress.
• Lord Dufferin who had inspired Hume with the vision of an All India Association wanted a body of person who could perform functions similar to those of Her majesty’s Opposition in England, that is, a body engaged in the interpretation of the public will before the Government.

• The idea of an All India Congress came in the mind of many Indians but the conmcrete shape was given by A.O. Hume. There is great controversy about the object which prompted A.O. Hume to take this step. Recent researches have shown that this idea was the result of discussions between A.O Hume and Lord Dufferin. He suggested him to organise a political body which would act in much the same kind of way as the opposition party did in Britain. So their primary aim was to provide an outlet “a safety for the British rule in India”. Hume himself expressed, “A safety valve for the escape of great and growing forces generated by our own action was urgently needed.”
• He was also genuinely interested in the welfare of Indian people. He possessed a sincere love for Indian and had a mythical faith in the destiny of the Indian race and of its future greatness. The leaders who started the congress were also patriots and men of high character.
• In the first session, Congress discussed and passed nine resolutions. Important among them are:
  •  Appointment of commission to inuire into the working of Indian administration.
  •  Abolition of the Council of the Secretary of the State for India.
  • Creation of Legislative Councils of the north-west Provinces and Avadh and the Punjab.
  • Enhancement of the number of elected members in the central and provincial legislative councils.
  • Reduction of military expenditure.
  • Introduction of simultaneous Public Service Examination in England and India and raising the age limit.

Its aims, as stated by A.O Hume in 1889, were:

• the fusion of different elements of the Indian population.
• the mental, moral, social and political regeneration of the nation.
• the consolidation of the union between England and India.
• Really, Hume wanted a loyal substitute for the Indian National Conference held in Calcutta. But soon the attitude of the Government towards the Congress began to change.
• In 1890, the Government debarred Government officials from attending the Congress sessions.
• In the nineteenth century, the Congress had its social base in the Western educated Indians and commercial and industrial bourgeoisie.

Indian National Congress was a truly national organisation, for:

• It represented all races, all creeds and all communities.
• Its membership was open to persons of all communities.
• All communities have worked for its development.
• It approached the country’s problems from all-India point of view.

The fundamental Principles of the Congress were:

• To blend the heterogeneous elements of the Indian population into a single national whole.
• To reconstruct the Indian nation mentally, morally, socially and politically.
• To cement the union between India and England and to secure modification of conditions detrimental to the interests of the former.
• The violent propanganda of the Congress succeeded in having some reforms enacted. Conseuently the Indian Council Act was passed in 1892 which enlarged the various Legislative Councils and extended franchise to the Chambers of Commerce, Universities, Landlords and Municiplaities. But the Act could not satisfy the younger generation.

Here After

• A very severe famine broke out in India in 1896 and the British Government failed to cope with the exigencies of the situation.
• The famine exacted a heavy toll of lives due to the different attitude of the government towards the suffering Indian community.
• B.G. Tilak organised a ‘no-tax’ campaign. His plea was that the Indians were incapacitated by the famine to meet the demand of taxes.
• The murder of two British officials at Poona intensified the repressive measures of the government who arrested Tilak on the charge of having incited the Indian through speeches and writings, to perpetrate the murder.
• The Congress had in its fold workers of extreme and liberal views, the former were called Extremists while the latter were styled as Moderates.
• The Moderates stood for self-government euivalent to Dominion Home Rule achieved through constitutional measures.
• Surender Nath Banerjee and Pheroz Shah Mehta belonged to this camp and Gokhale was their leader.
• The Extremists did not advocate constitutional agitation. Many of them harboured separatist tendencies. They were led by B.G. Tilak who had Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal as his close adherents.
• The regime of Lord Curzon (1890-1905), instead of appeasing the Indians, embittered the relations between the rulers and the ruled.
• Lord Curzon’s educational policy, lavishing of money on the darbar, his hatred of Indian culture and civilisation and bifurcation of Bengal exhausted the Indian patience and forced the Indians to resort to violent measures.
• He made as extensive use of Sedition Act. Several Congrss leaders were arrested and deported. The reign of terror had set in.