Establishment Of Indian National Congress (Continued : Pakistan Movement)

Establishment of Indian National Congress, 1885

In 1885, the Indian National Congress was formed on the initiative of the retired British official, Allan Octavian Hume. It had the blessings of the Viceroy, Lord Dufferin, who desired the organization to develop into a controlled and responsible opposition and serce as a canalizing agent for the agitating discontent among the intelligentsia, Its first president was Mr. Womesh Chandra Banerjee.

There were a number of factors that helped in the emergence of this organization which may be thus summarized:

1. The principal source of patriotic inspiration was furnished by the English literature, European and American history and their accounts of struggles for freedom. The western education cam first to Hindus: so did the new nationalism
2. The revivalist movements among the Hindus promoted Hindu nationalism. On the one hand, Swami Vivekananda, the spokesman of Rama Krishna mission asserted that the world had still to learn a lot from the spirtual Hindu nation and even from idolatry which he called "the most admirable and enlightened form of devotion". On the other hand, emerged the Arya Samaj movement founded by Swami Dayananda, which, although liberal in outlook, preached a return to the ancient Vedic faith, stressed the Unity of God and overthrow of alien faiths like Islam and Christianity.
3. Then there was a racial hatred against the British who had gone to their peak of isolation after the shock they suffered in 1857. The personal ties with the people were almost non - existent.
4. Some Englishmen in India even forgot he most elementary rules of decent behavior. Indians were not allowed into English society, restaurants and clubs. The mutual hatred assumed dimensions when a very large number of Indians were killed by some Englishmen who either remained unpunished or got light penalties.
5. In 1882, the Ilbert Bill was suggested, which allowed the Indian magistrates of some standing to try European criminals. The English community in the subcontinent raised a strong voice against this measure, and to counter this the Indians organized great demonstrations particularly in Bengal. That strengthened further the nationalist movement.

This body had three objects:

1. To fuse into one nation whole of all the different elements that constitute the population of India.
2. To gradually regenerate along all lines, mental, moral, social and political, of the nation thus evolved.
3. To consolidate the union between England and India, by securing the modification of such of its conditions as may be unjust or injurious to the latter country.

The Congress was not the innovation of one man; it was not the creation of a few individuals; or even of a few organizations coming together for a common purpose. It was the culmination of more than half a century's labours put in at different times and in different capacities by men like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Dwarkanath Tagore and Kristo Das Pal; it was the outcome of sustained work done for decades by public organizations like the British India Association, the Brahamo Samaj and the Prathna Samaj.