Indian National Congress

Also called: Congress · Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 3 "Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement"; Class 12, Ch 4 "Framing the Constitution"

Meaning

The Indian National Congress (often just "Congress") was a political organisation founded in 1885 that led India's freedom struggle against British rule. Under Gandhi, it changed from a small yearly meeting of educated Indians into a mass organisation. By the time of the Constituent Assembly (1946–49), it held 82 per cent of the seats.

It matters because almost every big event of the national movement passed through Congress: its splits, its sessions, its campaigns and its ministries. Its change from an "elite" body to a "mass" body is a core UPSC theme.

Explanation

Background: from small yearly meeting to divided party (1885–1915)

• Founded in 1885. In its early years Congress was a small yearly meeting of the educated. Its members were mostly lawyers, doctors and landowners. [4]
• Swadeshi movement, 1905–07. This widened the Congress. More people joined and the demands became sharper.
• Two camps grew inside Congress:
• The militants, "Lal, Bal and Pal" (Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal), wanted direct, aggressive action.

• The Moderates, including Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, wanted steady, lawful pressure such as petitions and speeches.

• Gandhi joined in 1915. He returned from South Africa in January 1915 and joined the Congress. Gokhale, his political guru (teacher-guide), died the same year. [3]

Gandhi's turning point: the promise to make Congress a people's party

• BHU, Varanasi, February 1916. In his first big public speech in India, Gandhi pointed at the gap:
• The hall was full of "richly bedecked noblemen".
• "The millions of the poor" were missing.

• His line: "our salvation can only come through the farmer."

• What the speech said about Congress:

• Fact: nationalism so far was an elite thing, made by lawyers, doctors and landowners. [4]

• Promise: nationalism would now speak for the whole people. [4]

• Lucknow session, December 1916. At this Congress session, a peasant from Champaran (Bihar) asked Gandhi for help against the indigo planters. This led to Champaran 1917.

• Why the poor were ready to listen. The First World War (1914–18) made life harder:
• Income tax was introduced.
• Prices doubled between 1913 and 1918.
• Men were forcibly recruited from villages, and there were crop failures and an influenza epidemic.
• The 1921 Census recorded 12–13 million dead.

How Congress changed under Gandhi

• New organisation. From about 1920 (Nagpur session), Congress was reorganised:
• It set up Provincial Congress Committees on linguistic lines, meaning by language areas such as Andhra or Kerala, instead of the British provinces.
• It opened new branches across India.
• Praja Mandals (people's associations) spread the nationalist message in the princely states.

• Leaders were encouraged to speak in the people's mother tongues, not only English.

• Mass campaigns led by Congress:

Year	What Congress did
1919	Rowlatt satyagraha
1921 / 1922	Non-Cooperation–Khilafat launched (Jan) / withdrawn after Chauri Chaura (Feb)
1928	Boycott of the Simon Commission
1929	Lahore Congress demands Purna Swaraj (complete independence) (Dec)
1930	Independence pledge on 26 Jan; Dandi March (12 March–6 April)
1931	Gandhi–Irwin Pact (March); Gandhi at the second Round Table Conference (Dec)
1942	Quit India (Aug), after the Cripps Mission failed

Results: from protest party to party of government

• 1937: under the Government of India Act, 1935, Congress formed ministries in 8 of 11 provinces.
• 1939: the ministries resigned, after Britain took India into the Second World War without asking Indian leaders.
• 1946: elections were sharply divided between Congress and the Muslim League. The Cabinet Mission failed, and Direct Action Day followed on 16 August.
• 1947: freedom came with Partition (15 August).
• Constituent Assembly: Congress held 82 per cent of the seats. So the Constitution was largely shaped inside Congress. Congress itself held many different views (socialists, conservatives, people from different communities), and they argued inside the Assembly.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: founded in 1885. The Gandhian era runs from 1915 to 1948.
• Key places: Lucknow (session, December 1916), Lahore (Purna Swaraj, 1929), Varanasi (BHU speech, 1916), Champaran (Bihar).
• Key people:
• Gandhi, who joined in 1915 and made Congress a mass body.
• Gokhale (1866–1915), Moderate leader and Gandhi's political guru; founder of the Servants of India Society (1905). [3]
• Lal, Bal and Pal, the militant leaders.

• Jinnah, a Moderate inside Congress in the early years.

• How we know:

• Gandhi's own speeches, such as the BHU address of 1916.
• Congress session resolutions, such as Lahore 1929.
• Official records like the 1921 Census.
• The NCERT Class 12 chapter on Gandhi and the nationalist movement. [4]
• The Constituent Assembly Debates for its role after 1946.

Don't confuse with

• Natal Indian Congress: founded by Gandhi in 1894 in South Africa to unite Indians there. [2] It is a separate body. The Indian National Congress was founded in 1885 in India, and Gandhi did not found it.
• Servants of India Society: founded by Gokhale in 1905 to train Indians for welfare work. [3] It was not a political party, though Gokhale was a Congress leader.
• Muslim League: a separate party. Its Lahore Resolution (1940) asked for separate Muslim areas. Do not mix this up with the Lahore Congress (1929), which demanded Purna Swaraj.
• Moderates vs militants: these were two camps inside one Congress, not two parties. Moderates (Gokhale, Jinnah) used lawful pressure. Militants (Lal, Bal, Pal) wanted direct action.

Prelims Hooks

• Indian National Congress: founded 1885. Natal Indian Congress: founded by Gandhi in 1894. [2]
• Gandhi returned in January 1915 and joined Congress the same year that Gokhale died. [3]
• Lucknow Congress, December 1916: a Champaran peasant approached Gandhi about indigo planters.
• Lahore Congress, December 1929: Purna Swaraj demanded. The pledge followed on 26 January 1930.
• 1937: Congress ministries in 8 of 11 provinces. They resigned in 1939.
• Congress held 82 per cent of seats in the Constituent Assembly. Its Provincial Congress Committees were organised on linguistic lines, not British provincial lines.

Mains Points

• From elite to mass nationalism:
• Before 1915, Congress was a yearly meeting of lawyers, doctors and landowners. [4]
• Swadeshi (1905–07) widened it.
• Gandhi's BHU promise (1916), the linguistic committees, Praja Mandals and campaigns in Indian languages turned it into a peasants' and people's party.

• Use this to show continuity and change in Indian nationalism.

• Why Gandhi's Congress succeeded where Moderates and militants could not:

• War distress (prices doubled, income tax, forced recruitment, 12–13 million dead per the 1921 Census) created a mass of angry, suffering people.
• Gandhi offered a third path, satyagraha. It was neither Moderate petitioning nor militant violence.

• This method had already been tested in South Africa. [2]

• Congress as an "umbrella":

• Its 82 per cent share in the Constituent Assembly gave the Constitution wide legitimacy, because Congress itself held many views.
• Critics note its weaker base among Muslims, which showed in the polarised 1946 elections and Partition.
• This is useful for answers on the limits of the national movement.

Related concepts

• Mahatma Gandhi
• Gandhi in South Africa
• Natal Indian Congress
• Indian Opinion
• Phoenix Settlement
• Tolstoy Farm
• Moderates
• Extremists
• Lal Bal Pal
• Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Read more

• Gandhi's arrival: South Africa, the India of 1915, the BHU announcement