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Important facts and objective questions on Indian National Congress, list of its Presidents and Congress Sessions:
Indian National Congress:
Indian National Congress was founded by British civil servant Allan Octavian Hume in 1885 to form a platform for civic and political dialogue of educated Indians with the British Raj. Its founding members wanted a larger role in the making of British policy for India. Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee was the first President of the Indian National Congress. The first session of the Indian National Congress was held from 28–31 December 1885, and was attended by 72 delegates. The Congress was transformed into a mass movement by Surendranath Banerjea and Sir Henry Cotton during the partition of Bengal in 1905 and the resultant Swadeshi movement. In the first two decades (1885-1905) Indian National Congress was quite moderate in its approach and confided in British justice and generosity. But repressive measures of the British gave rise to extremist within the Congress. By 1907 the party was split into two-halves—the Garam dal of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, or Extremists,and the Naram Dal of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, or Moderates—distinguished by their attitude towards the British colonists. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi returned from South Africa in 1915 and with the help of the moderate group led by Ghokhale formed an alliance with the Khilafat Movement. With the already existing nationalistic feeling combined with Gandhi's popularity, the Congress became a forceful and dominant group of people in the country, bringing together millions of people by specifically working against caste differences, untouchability, poverty, and religious and ethnic boundaries. The 1929 Lahore session under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru holds special significance as in this session "Poorna Swaraj" (complete independence) was declared as the goal of the Indian National Congress. 26 January 1930 was declared as "Poorna Swaraj Diwas", Independence Day. To commemorate this date the Constitution of India was formally adopted on 26 January 1950.
Indian National Congress - Important Points:
Indian National Congress was founded in the year - | 1885 |
Indian National Congress was founded by - | Allan Octavian Hume |
First session of Indian National Congress was held at - | Mumbai (1885) |
Who was the Viceroy of British India when the Indian National Congress was founded - | Lord Dufferin |
During the early phase of its existence, i.e., 1885-1905 Indian National Congress never made this demand - | Independence from British rule |
First woman president of Indian National Congress - | Mrs Annie Besant (1917) |
First Indian woman president of Indian National Congress - | Mrs Sarojini Naidu (1925) |
Woman Presidents of Indian National Congress - | Mrs Annie Besant (1917), Mrs Sarojini Naidu (1925) and Mrs. Nellie Sengupta (1933) |
First split of Indian National Congress - | 1907 at Surat session |
First Englishmen to become president of Indian National Congress - | George Yule (1888) |
Youngest president of Indian National Congress - | Maulana Abul Kalam Azad |
First Muslim to become president of Indian National Congress - | Badrudin Tayabji (Madras, 1887) |
National Song, Vande Mataram was first sung in the session of - | Calcutta (1896) |
First joint session of Indian National Congress and Muslim League - | Lucknow (1916) |
Session of Indian National Congress where wearing of Khadi was made compulsory for its workers- | Mrs Annie Besant (1917) |
National Anthem, Jana Gana Mana was first sung in the session of - | Calcutta (1911) |
The only session of Indian National Congress presided over by Mahatma Gandhi - | Belgaum (1924) |
Session of Indian National Congress where demand for complete independence was made - | 1929 at Lahore |
President of Indian National Congress at the time of independence - | Acharya J B Kriplani (1946) |
List of Presidents of Indian National Congress and its sessions:
Year | Place | Name of President |
1885 | Bombay | Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee |
1886 | Calcutta | Dadabhai Naoroji |
1887 | Madras | Badruddin Tayyabji |
1888 | Allahabad | George Yule |
1889 | Bombay | Sir William Wedderburn |
1890 | Calcutta | Sir Phirozshah Mehta |
1891 | Nagpur | P. Anand Charlu |
1892 | Allahabad | W. C. Bonerjee |
1893 | Lahore | Dadabhai Naoroji |
1894 | Madras | Alfred Webb |
1895 | Poona | S. N. Banerjee |
1896 | Calcutta | Rahimtulla M Sayani |
1897 | Amravati | Sir C. Sankaran Nair |
1898 | Madras | A. M. Bose |
1899 | Lucknow | R. C. Dutt |
1900 | Lahore | N. G. Chandavarkar |
1901 | Calcutta | D. E. Wacha |
1902 | Ahmedabad | S. N. Banerjee |
1903 | Madras | L. M. Ghosh |
1904 | Bombay | Sir Henry Cotton |
1905 | Banaras | Gopal Krishna Gokhala |
1906 | Calcutta | Dadabhai Naoroji |
1907 | Surat | Dr. Rash Behari Ghosh |
1908 | Madras | Dr. Rash Behari Ghosh |
1909 | Lahore | Madan Mohan Malaviya |
1910 | Allahabad | Sir William Wedderbum |
1911 | Calcutta | Bishan Narayan Dhar |
1912 | Patna | Rao Bahadur Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar |
1913 | Karachi | Nawab Syed Mohammad Bahadur |
1914 | Madras | Bhupendra Nath Bose |
1915 | Bombay | Lord Satyendra Prasanna Sinha |
1916 | Lucknow | Ambica Charan Mazumdar |
1917 | Calcutta | Mrs. Annie Besant |
1918 | ----------- | Sayed Hassan Imam (Special Session) |
1918 | Delhi | Madan Mohan Malaviya (Annual Session ) |
1919 | Amritsar | Pandit Motilal Nehru |
1920 | Nagpur | Lala Lajpat Rai (Suspended) |
1920 | Nagpur | C. Vijayaraghavachariar (Annual Session ) |
1921 | Allahabad | Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das (In Prison), Hakim Ajmal Khan (Acting) |
1922 | Gaya | Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das |
1923 | ----------- | Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (suspended) |
1923 | Kakinada | Maulana Mohammad Ali Jouhar (Annual Session) |
1924 | Belgaum | Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi |
1925 | Kanpur | Mrs. Sarojini Naidu |
1926 | Gauhati | S. Srinivasa lyengar |
1927 | Madras | Dr. Mohammad Ali Ansari |
1928 | Calcutta | Motilal Nehru |
1929 | Lahore | Jawaharlal Nehru |
1930 | ----------- | No session due to Civil Disobedience Movement |
1931 | ----------- | Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel |
1932 | ----------- | Ranchod Lal Amrit Lal |
1933 | Calcutta | Mrs. Nellie Sengupta |
1934 | Bombay | Dr. Rajendra Prasad |
1935 | Lucknow | Rajendra Prasad |
1936 | ----------- | Jawaharlal Nehru |
1937 | Faizpur | Jawaharlal Nehru |
1938 | Haripura | Shubhsh Chandra Bose |
1939 | Tripura | Shubhsh Chandra Bose (resigned). Later Rajendra Prasad was appointed. |
1940-1946 | ----------- | Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad |
1946(July-Sep.) | ----------- | Jawaharlal Nehru |
1946-1947 | Meerut | J. B. Kripalani |
1948 | Jaipur | Pattabhi Sitaramaiah |
1950 | Nasik | Purushotam Das Tandon |
1951 | Delhi | Jawaharlal Nehru |
1953 | Hyderabad | Jawaharlal Nehru |
1954 | Kalyan | Jawaharlal Nehru |
1955 | Avadi | U.N. Dhebar |
1956 | Amritsar | U.N. Dhebar |
1957 | Indone | U.N. Dhebar |
1958 | Pragyotishpur | U.N. Dhebar |
1959 | Nagpur | U.N. Dhebar |
1960 | Bangalore | Indira Ghandi |
1961 | Bhavnagar | N.Sanjiva Reddy |
1962 | New Delhi | D.Sanjivayya |
1964 | Bhubaneshwar | K .Kamaraj |
1965 | Durgapur | K .Kamaraj |
1966 | Jaipur | K .Kamaraj |
1968 | Bangalore | S.Nijalingappa |
1969 | New Delhi | C.Subramaniam |
1970 | New Delhi | Jagjivayya |
1971 | Ahmedabad | D.Sanjivayya |
1972 | Calcutta | Shankar Dayal Sharma |
1975 | Chandigarh | D.K. Barooah |
1976 | New Delhi | Brahmananda Reddy |
1978 | New Delhi | Indira Ghandi |
1983 | Calcutta | Indira Ghandi |
1984 | New Delhi | Rajiv Gandhi |
1985 | Bombay | Rajiv Gandhi |
1991 | New Delhi | P.V. Narasimha Rao |
1996 | New Delhi | Sitaram kesri |
1998 | New Delhi | Sonia Gandhi |
Objective Questions on Indian National Congress, its Presidents and Congress Sessions:
Answers - 1(c), 2(a), 3(d), 4(a), 5(b), 6(d), 7(c), 8(b), 9(a) and 10(a).