Background of Founding the Indian National Congress

Background of Founding the Indian National Congress:

The founding of the Indian National Congress that eventually followed the 1857 Independence war, was the key event in the independence movement of India. It was the first organisation in India that pulled people from all quarters of India. Dwarkanath Tagore established the 'Land Holders Association' in 1837 to safeguard the interests of landlords. He was one of the first Indian industrialists to form an enterprise with British partners and entrepreneurs, was the founder of the Jorasanko branch of the Tagore family. He was the grandfather of Rabindranath Tagore.

Tagore was a western-educated Bengali Brahmin and an acknowledged civic leader of Kolkata who played a pioneering role in setting up a string of commercial ventures - banking, insurance, and shipping companies - in partnership with British traders. In 1828, he became the first Indian bank director. In 1829, he founded Union Bank in Calcutta. He helped found the first Anglo-Indian Managing Agency (industrial organizations that ran jute mills, coal mines, tea plantations, etc., Carr, Tagore, and Company.

In 1839, William Adams, a friend of Raja Ram Mohan Roy established the 'British India Society' in London to acquaint the British citizens in England with the conditions in British India. Later, George Thompson, a friend of Dwarkanath Tagore established the 'Bengal British India Society'. In 1851, 'The Land Holder’s Association' and the 'Bengal British India Society' merged together and the 'British Indian Association' was founded. By the initiative of Harishchandra Mukherjee, this organisation dispatched a document presenting grievances of the Indian people to the British Parliament. At about the same time, the 'Madras Native Association' also began to work on similar lines. In 1866, Dadabhai Nowrojee in collaboration with Vyomeshchandra Banerjee established the 'East India Association' in London and began the work of creating awareness about Indian conditions. The 'India League' was active in this regard from 1875. Later, Surendranath Banerjee established the 'Indian Association' and declared that this association would work for uniting Indians of various racial origins and caste, with the help of common political interests and aspirations. Indian Association called a conference of the representatives of various Indian provinces, in 1883 at Kolkata.

The 'Madras Mahajan Sabha' founded in 1884 was an important nationalist organisation. At about the same time English education and urge for social reforms resulted in the formation of the 'Bombay Presidency Association' in January 1885 by Justice Kashinath Trimbak Telang, Pherozeshah Mehta, and their associates.