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Foundation of Indian National Congress

Modern Indian History Foundation of Indian National Congress

Introduction The year 1885 marks the beginning of a new epoch in Indian History. In that year an all-India political organization was set on foot under the name of the Indian National Congress. The Indian mind became increasingly conscious of its political position. A retrospective examination of the National Movement suggests three broad stages in its development. In the first stage of its existence (1885-1905), the vision of the Indian National Congress was dim, vague and confused. The movement was confined to a handful of the educated middle class intelligentsia who drew inspiration from Western Liberal and Radical Thought. During the second stage (1905-1918), the Congress came of age and its aim and scope were considerably extended. It aimed at an all-round uplift of the people— social, cultural, economic and political. Swaraj or self-government was the goal on the political front. Some progressive elements within the Congress adopted Western revolutionary methods to liquidate Western Imperialism. The final stage (1919-47) was dominated by the objective of Purna Swaraj or complete independence to be achieved under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi by the characteristically Indian method of non-violent and non-cooperation. Was It a Safety Valve? There is a theory that Hume formed the Congress with the idea that it would prove to be a ‘safety valve’ for releasing the growing discontent of the Indians. To this end, he convinced Lord Dufferin not to obstruct the formation of the

Foundation of Indian National Congress

Congress. The extremist leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai believed in the ‘safety valve’ theory. Even the Marxist historian’s ‘conspiracy theory’ was an offspring of the ‘safety valve’ notion. For example, R.P. Dutt opined that the Indian National Congress was born out of a conspiracy to abort a popular uprising in India and the bourgeois leaders were a party to it. Modern Indian historians, however, dispute the idea of ‘safety valve’. In their opinion the Indian National Congress represented the urge of the politically conscious Indians to set up a national body to express the political and economic demands of the Indians. If the Indians had convened such a body on their own, there would have been unsurmountable opposition from the officials; such an organization would not have been allowed to form. In the circumstances, as Bipan Chandra observes, the early Congress leaders used Hume as a ‘lightning conductor’ i.e., as a catalyst to bring together the nationalistic forces even if under the guise of a ‘safety valve’. Foundation of the Indian National Congress The foundation of the Indian National Congress on December 28, 1885 at Sir Tej Pal Sanskrit Vidyalaya, Bombay, was not a sudden event. In fact, the idea of a national organization had been in the air for quite some time. It was as Bipan Chandra rightly said, “the culmination of a process of political awakening that had its beginnings in the 1860s and 1870s and took a major leap forward in the late 1870s and early 1880s”. The Indian Nationalists attempted many times to form a group of an all-India scale. Indian Association (founded in 1870) in fact, organized two National Conferences in Calcutta in 1883 and 1885. But only Allan Octavian Hume, a retired civil servant, succeeded in forming an All India Party with 72

Foundation of Indian National Congress

delegates. It is Important to note that Hume was not the sole ‘soul’ in the foundation of an all-India-level party (which was not possible for one single person) rather he took advantage of an already existing atmosphere. Besides, he was more acceptable to Indians as he was free of any regional or caste loyalties. The Indian leaders also had an illusion that Hume had influence in official circle. But there is no denial of the fact that his presence along with Wedenburn, created less suspicion in official circle about Indian National Congress. The Indian National Congress, in its true sense, was founded by a new class of intelligentsia which mainly came from Calcutta and Bombay. Most of them met in London in the late 1860s and early 1870s while preparing for the ICS or when studying law. Pheroz Shah Mehta, Badruddin Tayabji, W.C. Banerji, Manmohan Ghosh, Anand Mohan Bose, Ramesh Chandra Dutta, Surendra Nath Banerji were those leaders who came under the influence of Dadabhai Naoroji who was settled as businessman in England. They raised the issue of Indianisation of civil services, opposed Vernacular Press Act (1878), Arms Act (1878), Afghan war and supported Ilbert Bill. All these issues led to a massive campaign against the Government. The Indians realized the need of a coordinated political party on an all India basis. Thus with the foundation of the National Congress in 1885, the struggle for India’s freedom from foreign rule was launched in a small but organized manner. The national movement was to grow and the country and its people were to know no rest till freedom was won. Surendranath Banerjee and many other leaders of Bengal had not attended the first session of the National Congress as they were busy with the Second National Conference at Calcutta. In 1886 they merged their forces with those of the

Foundation of Indian National Congress

National Congress whose second session met in Calcutta in December 1886 under the presidentship of Dadabhai Naoroji. From this session the National Congress became ‘the whole country’s Congress’. Its delegates, numbering 436, were elected by different local organizations and groups. Hereafter, the National Congress met every year in December, in a different part of the country each time the number of its delegates soon increased to thousands. Its delegates consisted mostly of lawyers, journalists, traders, industrialists, teachers, and landlords. In 1890, Kadambini Ganguli, the first woman graduate of Calcutta University, addressed the Congress session. This was symbolic of the fact that India’s struggle for freedom would raise Indian women from the degraded position to which they had been reduced for centuries past. The Indian National Congress was not the only channel through which the stream of nationalism flowed. Provincial conferences, provincial and local associations, and nationalist newspapers were the other prominent organs of the growing nationalist movement. The press, in particular, was a powerful factor in developing nationalist opinion and the nationalist movement. Some of the great presidents of the National Congress during its early years were Dadabhai Naoroji, Badruddin Tyabji, Pherozeshah Mehta, P. Ananda Charlu, Surendranath Banerjee, Ramesh Chandra Dutt, Ananda Mohan Bose, and Gopal Krishna Gokhale. Other prominent leaders of the Congress and the national movement during this period were Mahadev Govind Ranade, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the brothers Sisir Kumar and Motilal

Ghosh,

Madan

Mohan

Malaviya,

G.

Subramaniya

Iyer,

C.

Vijayaraghavachariar, and Dinshaw E. Wacha. One of the major objectives of the founders of the Indian National Movement was to make India a nation and to create ‘Indian’ people. Earlier India was merely a

Foundation of Indian National Congress

geographical expression. The Nationalist leaders were aware about it. Tilak and Surendra Nath Banerji had no hesitation in calling India as a ‘nation in the making’. Thus, the growth of national feeling and unity of Indians was one of the greatest objectives of Indian National Congress. The Congress, right from the beginning tried to remain an all India and secular political party. The Congress sessions were held (every year) in different parts of the country on rotational basis and the President was to belong to a region other than where the Congress session was being held. For instance, the first session was held in Bombay and the President, Wumesh Chandra Banerji, was from Bengal. Similarly, the second session was held in Calcutta (1886) and the President, Dada Bhai Naoroji, was from Bombay Presidency. To reach out to the followers of all religions and to remove the fears of the minorities a rule was made at the 1888 session (Allahabad) that no resolution was to be passed to which an overwhelming majority of Hindu or Muslim delegates objected. In 1889, a minority clause was adopted in the resolution demanding reform of legislative councils. According to the clause, wherever Parsis, Christians, Muslims or Hindus were a minority their number elected to the Councils would not be less than their proportion in the Population. The reason given by the mover of the resolution was that India was not yet a homogenous country and political methods here had, therefore, to differ from those in Europe. The early national leaders were also determined to build a secular nation, the Congress itself being intensely secular. The second major objective of the early Congress was to create a common political platform or program around which political workers in different parts of the country could gather and Conduct their political activities,

Foundation of Indian National Congress

educating and mobilizing people on an all-India basis. This was to be accomplished by taking up those grievances and fighting for those rights which Indians had in common in relation to the rulers. For the same reason the Congress was not to take up questions of social reform. At its second session, the President of the Congress, Dadabhai Naoroji, laid down this rule and said that ‘A National Congress must confine itself to questions in which the entire nation has a direct participation.’ Congress was, therefore, not the right place to discuss social reforms. ‘We are met together,’ he said, ‘as a political body to represent to our rulers our political aspirations.’ The Moderates The period between 1885 and 1905 is known as the moderate phase of Indian National Congress. The leaders met at the end of each year for three days (29th, 30th, and 31th of December), which was a great political assembly and social occasion. The President addressed the gathering with long speeches and after discussing the various issues; they passed resolutions and dispersed, with pledges to meet again in the same month, if not at the same place. The Congress leaders of moderate phase came mainly from Bombay, Bengal and Madras. For instance, Dada Bhai Naoroji, Badruddin Tayybji, Apte Agarkar, Pheroz Shah Mehta, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, K.T. Telang and Govind Ranade were from Bombay. Wumesh Chandra Banerji, Anand Mohan Bose, Surendra Nath Banerji, and Ramesh Chandra Dutta were from Bengal. Similarly, Subramanya Iyer, Anand Charlu, and Raghavacharya were from Madras. Very few leaders like Madan Mohan Malaviya and Pundit D.P. Dhar came from North India. These moderate leaders treated British rule as a blessing. They sincerely believed that the British

Foundation of Indian National Congress

rule would make India a developed, democratic and liberal country. They had the illusion that the British would introduce modern institution and remove superstitious believe. They saw England as a source of inspiration and treated English as their political guru. Many of these Nationalist leaders had anglicized life style. All they wanted and expected from the British were some ‘reform package’ for Indians. Lord Dufferin, the Governor- General (1884—88), called Congress party as a party of microscopic minority, which represents only a small section of Indians. Since then, a debate started about the role, purpose and achievement of Indian National Congress. Most of its critique, both in England and India, labelled Congress as a congregation of middle-class Zamindars and capitalists. A very simple look on the resolutions of Congress, from 1885-1905, is enough to prove that it was not a party of microscopic minorities. Demand of the Moderates  Expansion and power to legislative council  Greater opportunities for Indians in ICS exam  Re-imposition of custom duties on cotton goods  Grant of self-government to India within the British Empire as in the colonies of Australia and Canada  Freedom of speech and expression Thus, it is clear that the Congress was not only concerned with the issues of zamindars, capitalist and English educated professionals, but it showed concern for almost all the sections of society. The objectives of Congress were never the reason for calling it ‘moderate’, rather its methods and style of functioning. The

Foundation of Indian National Congress

early Congress leaders believed in the constitutional method of struggle i.e., through petitions, speeches, and articles. One important reason for this was the social composition of early Congress leaders. They came from successful professional background (most of them were lawyers, journalists and academicians) and their personal lifestyle was anglicized. Perhaps the first lesson they learned from the British was, how to write applications and give petition. Moreover, politics, for most of them, remained a part-time affair. It is interesting to note that the early Congress leaders, who believed in democratic ideals did not demand similar rights from the party itself, nor did they demand any self-government. The representation for the Indians in the legislative bodies meant only ‘educated’ and ‘qualified’ Indians. In 1905. Gokhale in the Presidential address of Indian National Congress asserted that the educated were the ‘natural leaders of the people and explained that political rights were being demanded, ‘not for the whole population, but for such portion of it as has been qualified by education to discharge properly the responsibilities of such associations. The social composition of Indian National Congress remained, by and large the same till 1905. Hume, the Congress Secretary, tried his best to bring Muslims and peasants into the Congress fold. but with little success. The Muslim elite, especially from Aligarh, felt that they would lose from the elected councils and that the Hindus would dominate (Hindus were in majority in most places). The Muslim elite also opposed competitive examinations for the recruitment into civil services, as it was based on modern English education and the Muslims were far behind the Hindus in this field. They feared Hindu domination in the Civil services

Foundation of Indian National Congress

too. All these factors kept Muslims away from the Congress; neither did the Congress give a serious look into Inducting Muslims. This was a big mistake, as they realized in later years. Despite all limitations, the moderates succeeded in making India politically aware. The early moderate leaders succeeded in getting the Indian Council Act, 1892, passed. Under this Act, the number of elected members in Central Legislative Council and the provincial Legislative Council increased. The Council acquired the right to discuss on budget, but was not permitted to vote on it. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the issue of ‘Swarajya’ Started gaining attention in the Congress circle. Finally, in its annual session of 1905 (Banaras) and 1906 (Calcutta), under the presidentship of G.K. Gokhale and Dadabhai Naoroji, respectively, the Congress party adopted the Resolution of ‘Swarajya’ (Self-rule). Views of Moderates The moderates were practical men and never spoke of no abstract equality but of the equality as promised in the "queen's proclamation". They always criticized the government but they did not ask for the immediate termination of that rule. Actually, they used the concept of liberty and nationality and they realized that the national consciousness, upto the end of the 19th century was week and it was the duty to the moderates to improve it. In 1890. Pheroj Shah Mehta declared that, "I have no fears that British statesmanship will ultimately respond to the call. I have unbounded faith in the living and fertilizing principles of English culture and English civilization. In 1892, in Madras Congress he again said, "The educated classes are the friends and not the foes of Englandher natural and necessary allies in the great work that lies before her."

Foundation of Indian National Congress

The moderates preached the ideas of patriotism and nationalism to their countrymen but asked them to discard violence of all kinds. Surendranath said : "It is not indeed necessary for us to have recourse to violence in order to obtain the redress of our grievances. Constitutional agitation will secure for us those rights and privileges which in less favored countries are obtained by sterner means." Belief of Moderates The moderates believed a gradualism and they condemned terroristic activities. Describing the terrorist as an anarchist, S.N. Banerjee said, "Anarchism has wrecked the prospects of Russian freedom, an emasculated Duma was the reply of the Czar to Russian anarchism." Moreover, English revolutions were bloodless and the English political philosopher also condemned the horrors of bloody revolutions. The Indian liberals (moderates) also followed the principles of the British. They did also not like the policy, which will create huge flood of blood. They developed and retained the English feeling of opposition to direct action and aggressive policies. The Extremists Causes of Growth of Extremism A section of the Congress gradually lost faith in its moderate program in the early 20th century and moved towards militant nationalism. It marked the growth of a radical wing in the Congress. The political events of the year 1892 to 1905 also disappointed the nationalists and made them think of more radical politics. The

Foundation of Indian National Congress

Indian Councils Act of 1892 was a complete disappointment. On the other hand, even the existing political rights of the people were attacked. The Nathu brothers were deported in 1897 without being tried; even the charges against them were not made public. In the same year, Lokmanya Tilak and other newspaper editors were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment for arousing the people against the foreign government. The people found that, instead of giving them wider political rights, the rulers were taking away even their few existing rights. In 1898, a law was passed making it an offence to excite ‘feelings of disaffection’ towards the foreign government. In 1899, the number of Indian members in the Calcutta Corporation was reduced. In 1904, the Indian Official Secrets Act was passed restricting the freedom of the Press. The Indian Universities Act of 1904 was seen by the nationalists as an attempt to bring Indian Universities under tighter official control and to check the growth of higher education. The anticongress attitude of Lord Curzon convinced more and more people that it was useless to expect any political and economic advance as long as Britain ruled India. Even the moderate leader Gokhale complained that "the bureaucracy was growing frankly selfish and openly hostile to national aspirations". Agenda and Methods of Extremists Four prominent Congress leaders Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Aurobindo Ghosh and Lala Lajpat Rai were chief advocators of militant nationalism. They rejected prayer and petition method of moderates. The new leadership sought to create a passionate love for liberty, accompanied by a spirit of sacrifice and readiness to suffer for the cause of country. They advocated

Foundation of Indian National Congress

boycott of foreign goods, use of swadesi goods, national education and passive resistance. They had deep faith in mass and they planned to achieve swaraj through mass action. The leaders of this wing gave up the soft approach of appeals and partitions. Instead, they made radical (fundamental) demands and adopted strong ways of political agitation. They had no faith in good intentions of the British government. The extremist aimed at achieving 'swaraj' that meant complete independence from British rule. They considered that the demand of the moder...