The foundation of congress was not an isolated phenomenon. It had a long history, beginning from Raja Ram Mohan Roy. It went through various phases and various factors contributed to set political movement on right line. The foundation of congress was climax of political movement on one hand and beginning of freedom struggle on other.

Various phases of background of political movement leading to formation of congress

First phase

The first phase starts with Raja Ram Mohan Roy. He put forward many reforms and initiated the struggle for them. He highlighted certain demands like, freedom of press, Indian to be tried by Jury, separation of judiciary from executive, Indian should be appointed on high posts etc. These demands provided frame work and context for political movement of India.

Henry Vivian Derozio also inspired his students to fight for their rights. He taught to love liberty and patriotism.

Second phase

During 1830 and 40s many smaller organization came into existence. Land holders society at Calcutta, Bengal British Indian society, British Indian association, Madras native association and Bombay association etc. All such organizations, big or small were dominated by wealthy landed elements. These organizations were local in nature. Such organization, however, represent political movement of India, yet their demands were peculiar to their interests.

Third phase

The failure of Revolt of 1857 was actually failure of political movement of India. It proved that political leadership was backward looking and traditional in nature. The revolt made Britishers more exploitative in nature.

The failure of revolt also awakened Indian intellegentia[1]. India scholar community began to expose Britishers. The fine example is that British Indian association changed its character. It began to criticize British rule. In 1866, Dada Bhai Naoroji, organized “East India association in England”. He explained the Drain of Wealth theory in his book Poverty and Unbritish Rule in India. Meantime, Mahadev Ranade, G.V. Joshi, S.H. Chiplunkar organized “Poona Sarvajanik Sabha” in 1860s.

Fourth phase

The fourth phase begins with policies of Lord Lytton. He removed import duty on British textile goods. He led expansionist wars against Afghanistan putting burden on Indian Exchequer. He passed Arms Act, Vernacular press Act and held Delhi Darbar with full luxury where as whole nation was suffering with famine. He also reduced the age to appear in ICS exam for Indians from 21 to 19.

People reacted against such exploitative & draconian rules. During 1870s Swadeshi movement began to gain ground. In 1876, Surendernath Benerjee along with Anand Mohan Bose formed “Indian Association”. It took up the issues like civil service reform. In early 1880s, influential leaders like Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty formed “Madras Mahajan Sabha. In 1885, Phirozshah Mehta, K.T. Telang and Badruddin Tyyabji formed “Bombay Presidency association”.

Fifth phase

The political consciousness of the people necessitated a political organization at the National level. People felt strong need of a common platform. Moreover, Indian leadership had also got enough experienced leaders like Ranade, Dada Bhai Naoroji, Phiroze Shah Mehta, K.T. Telang, etc.

In 1883, “All India National Conference” was founded by a group of leaders. However, they could not concretize their Idea. But in 1885, Bombay group of Nationalist leaders co-operated with A.O. Hume. In December 1885, A.O. Hume put the foundation of Indian National congress in Bombay.

First meeting

The credit for organizing the first meeting of the Indian National Congress goes to A.O. Hume. He was a retired government servant who had chosen to stay back in India after retirement. He was on very good terms with Lord Ripon and shared his view that the emergence of the educated class should be accepted as a political reality and that timely steps should be taken to provide legitimate outlets to the grievances of this class and efforts be made to satisfy its ambitions. He laboriously consolidated the network of contacts that he had established. Early in December 1884 he reached Bombay to bid farewell to Ripon. He stayed on there for three months and during this period he discussed with the leaders who were influential in the Bombay Presidency the programme of political action to be adopted by the educated Indians.

In March It was decided that a conference of the Indian National Union (initially it was this name that was adopted) would be convened at Poona during the Christmas week. Initially Hume and his group considered Calcutta as the most likely place for the conference. But later they decided upon Poona because it was centrally located and the Executive Committee of the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha expressed readiness to make arrangements for the conference and provide necessary funds.

However, fate deprived Poona of the opportunity to host the first session of the Indian National Congress. The venue had to be shifted to Bombay because of the outbreak of cholera in Poona. The first meeting was held on Monday 28 December 1885 in Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, Bombay. Womesh Chandra Banerjee was chosen as the president of the First session of Indian National congress. He was one of the first Indian Barristers and one of the foremost legal luminaries in his day. His election established the healthy precedent that the President should be chosen from a province other than the one in which the Congress was being held.

Congress objectives

The Presidential Speech of the first Congress President was armed at stating explicitly the scope, character and objectives of the Congress. Moreover, the presidential speech also sought to remove many apprehensions and misgivings which might have arisen in the mind of the people about the exact intentions of the Congress.

The aims and objectives of the Congress were defined very clearly by the President. He described the objectives as.

1.    Promotion of personal intimacy and friendship amongst the countrymen.

2.    Eradication of all possible prejudices relating to race, creed or provinces.

3.    Consolidation of sentiments of national unity.

4.    Recording of the opinions of educated classes on pressing problems of the day, and

5     Laying down lines for future course of action in public interest.

Besides these demands the President enumerated the blessings conferred by the British on India. He assured that the educated Indians were thoroughly loyal and consistent well-wishers of the Government. He clarified that their purpose in organizing the Congress was to represent their views to the ruling authorities and it was wrong to condemn them as a nest of conspirators and disloyals. They accepted Hume’s leadership because most of the Britishers in India distrusted educated Indians. Of all the objectives and aims of Congress no aspiration was more keenly expressed than the one for national unity.

The Congress leaders had tremendous faith in what they described as the British sense of justice. They were not thinking in terms of expelling the British. All they wanted was that the policies adopted by the Government of India should aim at the welfare and good for Indians which meant really the advancement of their interests. For this purpose they wanted greater share in running the government. This was to be done through the development of representative institutions and appointment of Indians to higher posts.

Social base of the congress

1.    It is often argued that the lawyers dominated the Congress. For example, a noted historian Anil Seal points out that over half the delegates at the first Congress-39 out of 72-were lawyers and that during the decades to come more than one-third of the delegates to every Congress session belonged to the legal professions.

2.    The old aristocracy-people like rajas, maharajas, big zamindars and very wealthy merchants were conspicuous by their absence.

3.    Nor did the peasants or artisans feel attracted towards it.

The fact that the lawyers predominated cannot be denied. But this is more or less true of political organisations and legislatures everywhere. In India the problem became compounded by the fact that very few careers were open to educated Indians. Therefore, a very big number adopted the legal profession. The old aristocratic class did not participate in the Congress proceedings because it felt threatened by new liberal and nationalist ideas. Though the question of poverty of Indian had been discussed for sometime by various leaders especially Dadabhai Naoroji, no attempt was made to associate the masses with the movement at this stage[2]. This was so because the leaders at this stage thought that the masses are not yet trained in the form of political agitation adopted by the Indian National Congress. The leaders through their memorials, petitions, speeches etc. aimed at making the masses politically conscious. When the Congress came to discuss the condition of the people, it resolved that the first step should be the granting of representative institutions. Given the tactics adopted by the Congress-that of petitioning and drawing attention to grievances by public discussions, this was natural.

Proceedings and resolutions

The proceedings of the Congress were conducted in the most orderly and efficient manner. The resolutions were moved discussed and passed in accordance with strict parliamentary procedure. Each resolution was proposed by a member belonging to one province, then seconded by a member belonging to another province and was supported by members from other provinces. The speeches were marked by moderation, earnestness and expressions of loyalty to the Crown. Historian Briton Martin (New India 1885, Delhi 1970) comments that the first Congress was a distinctly professional affair, which would have been the envy of any comparable political meeting held in England or the United States at that time’.

The first congress adopted nine resolutions.

In one resolution demand was put forward for the appointment of a Royal Commission for inquiring into Indian affairs on which Indians would be adequately represented.

The other resolution demanded the abolition of the Indian Council of the Secretary of State for India. The Congress wanted that the Secretary of State should be responsible directly to the British Parliament. This demand was based on the idea that the British people were just and fair and if properly informed, they would sympathize with the legitimate demands of the Indians.

There was also a resolution on foreign policy which condemned the annexation of Upper Burma.

Other resolutions covered subjects such as liberalizing the Constitution and functions of the Central and Provincial Legislative Councils, holding of simultaneous examination for the Civil Service in Britain and India and the need to reduce expenditure on the army, etc.

Before dispersing, the Congress decided that an attempt should be made to get the resolutions passed at the Congress session ratified by political associations throughout the country.

Need for an all-india body

Viewed in a larger context, the founding of the Indian National Congress was a response to the then existing political and socio-economic conditions which had resulted from long subjection to the alien rule. During the 1880s, as we have seen, the idea of national organisation was very much in the air. In fact, during the last ten days of 1885 as many as five conferences were held in different parts of the country. The Madras Mahajan Sabha held its second annual conference from 22 to 24, December. It was timed as to enable the members of the Sabha to attend the Congress at Poona. The Second Indian National Conference, convened by the Indian Association, met at Calcutta. It merged with the Indian national Congress in 1886.  Two other conferences held during the same period were the conferences organised by Eurasians at Jabalpur and by Prayag Central Hindu Samaj at Allahabad. Given the emergence of a countrywide educated class, the ideas they expressed and the organizational developments that had taken place, it was only a matter of time before a national body was created. The Indian National Congress represented the culmination of awareness amongst educated groups of the need to work together for political purposes. It marked the culmination of a long process of evolution of political ideas and a process of organisation which had started from 1830s onwards.