Indian National Congress Part - 1

Indian National Congress Part - 1                                   

1. 1st Session   

Place : Bombay

Date :  Dec. 28-30, 1885  

President : Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee

Details :72 social reformers, journalists and lawyers congregated for the first session of Indian National Congress at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, Bombay.

2. 2nd Session       

Place :  Calcutta             

Date :  Dec. 27-30, 1886       

President : Shri Dadabhai Naoroji  

Details : The number of delegates had increased to 434.Towards the end of the session, the Congress decided to set up Provincial Congress Committees across the country 

3. 3rd Session 

Place :  Madras  

Date : Dec. 27-30, 1887            

President : Badruddin Tyabji

Details :An appeal made to Muslims to join hands with other national leaders

4. 6th session

Place : Calcutta               

Date :  Dec. 26-30, 1890            

President : Pherozeshah Mehta

Details :  In his presidential address, Pherozeshah Mehta said ‘To my mind, a Parsi is a better and a truer Parsi, as a Mohammedan or a Hindu is a better and truer Mohammedan or Hindu, the more he is attached to the land which gave him birth, the more he is bound in brotherly relations and affection to all the children of the soil, the more he recognises the fraternity of all the native communities of the country

5. 8th Session 

Place : Allahabad

Date :Dec. 28-30, 1892

President :Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee

Details : The Congress criticised the Indian Councils Act of 1892, which had just been put into operation by the colonial government. They said that the Act did not give the Indian people the right to elect their own representatives.

6. 11th Session 

Place : Pune 

Date : Dec. 27-30, 1895

President : Surendranath Banerjea

Details :The Congress at its Eleventh Session was buoyed by a substantial increase in the number of delegates from 1163 in 1894 to 1584.The President congratulated the Congress for bringing together ‘the scattered element of a vast and diversified population’, and making them vibrate with the new born sentiment of an awakened nationality.

7. 12th Session 

Place : Calcutta 

Date : Dec. 28-31, 1896

President : Rahimatullah M. Sayani

Details : National song ‘Vande Mataram’ was sung for the first time· 

Also, the Drain theory got a stamp of approval and the British were held responsible for the ‘drain of wealth’ from India which led to frequent famines and growing poverty in India.

Further, the Congress passed a resolution blaming the British for the famine that had devastated many parts of India.

They condemned the provisions of the existing famine code as being ‘inadequate’ and attacked the government for the manner in which it was blocking private relief.

8. 13th Session 

Place : Amaravati

Date : Dec. 27-29, 1897

President :  C. Sankaran Nair

Details :   The shadow of Bal Gangadhar Tilak arrest on charges of sedition, loomed large over the Amaravati Session.

Surendranath Banerjea made use of his oratorical skills while voicing his solidarity with Tilak

9. 15th Session 

Place : Lucknow 

Date : Dec. 27-29, 1899

President : Romesh Chunder Dutt

Details : The Congress demanded that the British government put a stop to the ‘drain of wealth’ from India to England that had been taking place as a result of colonial rule.·         By raising this matter, Congress attacked a concept that formed the very basis of colonialism.

 It is no coincidence that Congress raised this under the presidentship of R.C. Dutt, who along with Dadabhai Naoroji, had been consistently criticising the British for the drain of wealth.

10. 17th Session 

Place : Calcutta 

Date : Dec. 26-28, 1901

President : Dinshaw Eduljee Wacha

Details : The 1901 Calcutta Session was the first time Mahatma Gandhi appeared on the Congress platform. Gandhi ji urged the Congress to support the struggle against racial discrimination and exploitation in the country.

11. 21st Session 

Place : Banaras 

Date : Dec. 27-30, 1905

President :Gopal Krishna Gokhale

Details :  Resentment was shown against the partition of Bengal

12. 22nd Session 

Place : Calcutta 

Date : Dec. 26-29, 1906

President :Shri Dadabhai Naoroji

Details :  To counter the increasing influence of the extremists, the moderates invited Dadabhai Naoroji to come from England to preside over the session.

 However, the vocabulary of the extremists triumphed in a way as Naoroji declared Swaraj as the ‘only and chief remedy’ in self government lies our hope, strength and greatness, he said.

13. 23rd Session ( Suspended ) 

Place : Surat

Date : Dec. 26-27, 1907

President : Rash Behari Ghosh

Details : The ‘Surat Split’- Party splits into extremists and moderates

14. 24th Session 

Place : Lahore

Date : Dec. 27-29, 1909

President : Madan Mohan Malaviya

Details : Disapproval was expressed over the separate electorates on basis of religion as given in Indian Councils Act, 1909.

15. 25th Session 

Place : Allahabad

Date : Dec. 26-29, 1910

President : Sir William Wedderburn

Details :   Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who was then a 44-year-old barrister and firmly with the Congress, decried the colonial government’s decision to introduce separate electorates for Hindus and Muslims in municipalities and local bodies.

He stated that this would disturb the amicable relations between the two communities. It is ironic that Jinnah became the main champion of a separate Muslim state two and a half decades later.

16. 26th Session 

Place : Calcutta 

Date : Dec. 26-28, 1911

President : Bishan Narayan Dar

Details : The Congress at its Calcutta Session in 1911, congratulated Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian community in Transvaal on the repeal of the South African province’s anti-Asiatic legislation