INC foundation

Story hook

It is 28 December 1885. In the Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Bombay, 72 delegates representing the educated, English- speaking middle class of British India are sitting on wooden benches under the chairmanship of W.C. Bonnerjee, a Calcutta barrister. The convenor is a retired British civil servant, Allan Octavian Hume, who has organised this first meeting after several years of correspondence with Viceroy Lord Dufferin. Among the delegates: Dadabhai Naoroji (a Bombay businessman and economist), Pherozeshah Mehta (a Parsi lawyer), Surendranath Banerjee (Bengal's leading reformer), G.K. Gokhale (a 19-year-old mathematics teacher from Pune), and Badruddin Tyabji (a Bombay lawyer).

They are founding an organisation called the Indian National Congress. Its declared aims: (a) promote friendly relations between Indian elites and the British government, (b) crystallise Indian public opinion on political issues, (c) train future leaders, and (d) eradicate prejudices among Indians.

Within twenty years, this gentlemanly forum will fracture into two factions: the Moderates who believe in petitions, prayers, protests, and gradual reform through the British political system; and the Extremists (later "Garam Dal") who believe in passive resistance, swadeshi, and self-rule as a birthright. The crucial break comes at the Surat session of December 1907, where chairs fly across the assembly and the Congress formally splits. The nine-year split (1907-1916) will reshape Indian politics.

For UPSC, this is the foundational story of Indian nationalism. The 1885-1907 phase (Moderates), the 1905-1919 phase (Extremists), the 1917-onwards Gandhian phase — all flow from the INC. Every Mains paper of GS-I touches some aspect of this story.

Why this matters for UPSC

The Indian National Congress is the central institution of India's freedom struggle. Three reasons:

Founding moment: 28 December 1885, Bombay. The first all-India political organisation. Predecessors (Indian Association 1876, Madras Mahajana Sabha 1884, Bombay Presidency Association 1885) were regional; INC was national.

Phase shifts: Each phase (Moderate 1885-1905, Extremist 1905- 1919, Gandhian 1919-1947) marked a different conception of how to challenge colonial rule.

Recurring tensions: Moderates vs Extremists, Hindus vs Muslims, elite vs mass, constitutional vs revolutionary — these tensions within Congress framed Indian political debate for 62 years.

This file covers the formation context, key Moderate figures and methods, transition to Extremism, Surat Split 1907, reunification 1916, and the prelude to Gandhian phase.