Foundation of the Indian National Congress

Founding of the Indian National Congress:

On 28th December 1885, the first session of the Indian National Congress was held at Mumbai, in ‘Gokuldas Tejapal Sanskrit College’. It was attended by 72 delegates from various parts of India. Vyomeshchandra Banerjee presided over this session. In the 1886 session held at Calcutta, he proposed the formation of standing committees of the Congress in each province for the better co-ordination of its work and it was on this occasion that he advocated that the Congress should confine its activities to political matters only. He was the president of the Indian National Congress again in the 1892 session in Allahabad where he denounced the position that India had to prove for the worthiness of political freedom. Many eminent people like Pherozeshah Mehta, Dadabhai Nowrojee, Rahimtulla Sayani, Kashinath Trimbak Telang, Gopal Krishna Gokhale participated in the proceedings of this session. Allan Octavian Hume, a British officer in India took a significant lead in the founding of the Indian National Congress. In this first session, nine resolutions were passed. Through these resolutions, demands for appointing a commission to enquire into the British administration in India, to appoint elected representatives of people on central and provincial legislative assemblies, to employ Indians in the administrative services, to conduct civil service examinations in India, to curtail military expenses, to sanction more funds for higher education and to make provisions for technological education were put forth.