Summary

● Factors in Growth of Modern Nationalism

Understanding of contradictions in Indian and colonial interests Political, administrative and economic unification of the country Western thought and education

Role of press and literature

Rediscovery of India’s past—historical researches Rise of middle class intelligentsia

Impact of contemporary movements worldwide Reactionary policies and racial arrogance of rulers

● Political Associations Before Indian National Congress

1836—Bangabhasha Prakasika Sabha

Zamindari Association or Landholders’ Society 1843—Bengal British India Society

1851—British Indian Association 1866—East India Association 1870—Poona Sarvajanik Sabha 1875—Indian League

1876—Indian Association of Calcutta or Indian National Association

1885—Bombay Presidency Association 1884—Madras Mahajan Sabha

Chapter 11

Indian National Congress: Foundation and the Moderate Phase

Foundation of Indian National Congress

In the later 1870s and early 1880s, a solid ground had been prepared for the establishment of an all-India organisation. The final shape to this idea was given by a retired English civil servant, A.O. Hume, who mobilised leading intellectuals of the time and, with their cooperation, organised the first session of the Indian National Congress at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Bombay in December 1885. As a prelude to this, two sessions of the Indian National Conference had been held in 1883 and 1885, which had representatives drawn from all major towns of India. Surendranath Banerjea and Ananda Mohan Bose were the main architects of the Indian National Conference.

The first session of the Indian National Congress was attended by 72 delegates and presided over by Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee. Hereafter, the Congress met every year in December, in a different part of the country each time. Some of the great presidents of the Congress during this early phase were Dadabhai Naoroji (thrice president),

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Badruddin Tyabji, Pherozshah Mehta, P. Anandacharlu, Surendranath Banerjea, Romesh Chandra Dutt, Ananda Mohan Bose and Gopal Krishna Gokhale. Other prominent leaders included Mahadeo Govind Ranade, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Sisir Kumar Ghosh, Motilal Ghosh, Madan Mohan Malaviya,

G. Subramaniya Aiyar, C. Vijayaraghavachariar, Dinshaw E. Wacha.

In 1890, Kadambini Ganguly, the first woman graduate of Calcutta University, addressed the Congress session, which symbolised the commitment of the freedom struggle to give the women of India their due status in national life. Apart from the Indian National Congress, nationalist activity was carried out through provincial conferences and

associations, newspapers and literature.