The First Session Of The Indian National Congress Was Held On

28th December 1885: The First Session Of The Indian National Congress Was Held On


The first session of the Indian National Congress was held on 28 December 1885 in Bombay. The initial name of the organization was Indian National Union. 

From its foundation on 28 December 1885 by A.O. Hume, a retired British officer, until the time India gained its independence on 15 August 1947, the Indian National Congress was the central and defining influence of the long Indian Independence Movement. 

Retired British Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer Allan Octavian Hume founded the Indian National Congress. To form a platform for civil and political dialogue among educated Indians. After the Indian Rebellion of 1857, control of India was transferred from East India Company to the British Empire. British-controlled India, known as the British Raj, or just the Raj, worked to try to support and justify its governance of India with the aid of English-educated Indians, who tended to be more familiar with and friendly to British culture and political thinking. Ironically, a few of the reasons that the Congress grew and survived, particularly in the 19th century era of undisputed British dominance or hegemony was through the patronage of British authorities and the rising class of Indians and Anglo-Indians educated in the English language-based British tradition. 

In May 1885, Hume secured the viceroy's approval to create an "Indian National Union", which would be affiliated with the government and act as a platform to voice Indian public opinion. Hume and a group of educated Indians came together on October 12 and published "An Appeal from the People of India to the Electors of Great Britain and Ireland" which asked British voters in the 1885 British general election to support candidates sympathetic to the positions of Indians. These included opposition to the taxation of India to finance British campaigns in Afghanistan, and support for legislative reform in India. The appeal, however, was a failure and was interpreted by many Indians as "a rude shock, but a true realization that they had to fight their battles alone. 

On 28 December 1885, the Indian National Congress was founded at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Bombay, with 72 delegates in attendance. Hume assumed office as the General Secretary and Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee of Calcutta was elected President. Besides Hume, two additional British members (both Scottish civil servants) were members of the founding group, William Wedderburn and Justice John Jardine. The other members were mostly Hindus from the Bombay and Madras Presidencies 

Location: India

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