The formation of the Indian National Congress (INC)
The formation of the Indian National Congress (INC) was laid with the formation of the Indian Association in Calcutta in 1876 by Surendra Nath Banerjee, the foundation of the Indian National Movement.
The aim of the association was to represent the educated middle class, inspire Indian society to take organized action.
The Indian Association was, in a way, the forerunner of the Indian National Congress, which was founded by the aid of AO Hume, a retired British officer.
With the birth of the Indian National Congress (INC) in 1895, the newly educated middle class started seeing the signs of politics and this changed the nature of Indian politics.
The first session of the Indian National Congress was held in Bombay in December 1885 under the chairmanship of Womesh Chandra Banerjee and attended along with others.
At the turn of the century, the freedom movement reached out to the general illiterate people through the "Swadeshi movement" run by leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Arvind Ghosh.
The Congress session held in Calcutta in 1906, presided over by Dada Bhai Naoroji, gave the slogan of "Swarajya", a form of self-rule, which was to be governed by elected persons under British control, as in Canada and Australia, which was under the British Empire.
Meanwhile, in 1909, the British government announced some reforms in the structure of the Indian government, known as the Morley-Minto reforms.
But these reforms got disappointment because there was no attempt to move towards the establishment of representative government.
The provision of special representation to Muslims was seen as a threat to the Hindu-Muslim unity on which the national movement rested, so these reforms were strongly opposed by all leaders, including Muslim leader Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
After this, Emperor George V made two declarations in Delhi, the first Bengal partition which was done in 1905 was repealed, second, it was announced that the capital of India would be shifted from Calcutta to Delhi.
Dissatisfied with the reforms announced in the year 1909, the struggle of the Swaraj movement was intensified.
While on one hand the great leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai and Vipin Chandra Pal almost started a war against the British Raj, on the other hand the revolutionaries started violent activities.
There was a wave of instability in the whole country. There was already discontent among the people, adding to it further, the Rowlatt Act was passed in 1919, which allowed the government to keep people in jail without trial.
This led to a sense of homeland among the people and large demonstrations and sit-ins were started, which the government tried to repress from tyrannical activities like the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, where thousands of innocent peace loving people were gunned down on the orders of General Dyer.
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