(also known as the '''Congress Party''' and abbreviated '''INC''') is a major
Political Party in
India . Created in 1885 by
A. O. Hume ,
Dadabhai Naoroji and Sir
Dinshaw Edulji Wacha , the Indian National Congress became the nation's leader in the
Independence Movement , with over 15 million Indians involved in its organizations and over 70 million participants in its struggle against the
British Empire . After independence in 1947, it became the nation's dominant political party, only challenged for leadership in more recent decades. In the 14th
Lok Sabha (2004-2009), 145 INC members, the largest contingent amongst all parties, serve in the house. The party is currently the chief member of the ruling
United Progressive Alliance coalition supported by the
Left Front .
The history of the Indian National Congress falls into two distinct eras:
- The pre-independence era, when the party was at the forefront of the struggle for independence;
- The post-independence era, when the party has enjoyed a prominent place in Indian politics, ruling the country for 48 of the 60 years since independence in 1947.
See Also: Indian National Congress - Freedom Era
Founded in 1885 with the objective of obtaining a greater share in government for educated Indians, the Indian National Congress was initially not opposed to
British rule. The Congress met once a year during December. Indeed, it was a
Scotsman ,
Allan Octavian Hume , who brought about its first meeting in
Mumbai , with the approval of
Lord Dufferin , the then-Viceroy.
Womesh Chandra Bonerjee was the first President of the INC. The first meeting was scheduled to be held in
Pune , but due to a
Plague outbreak there, the meeting was later shifted to Mumbai. The first Session of INC was held from 28-31 December 1885, and was attended by 72 delegates.
A few years down the line, the demands of INC became more radical in the face of constant opposition from the government, and the party became very active in the , or Extremists (literally "hot faction"), and the ''Naram Dal'' of
Gopal Krishna Gokhale , or Moderates (literally "soft faction"), distinguished by their attitude towards the British.
In its time as the nation's leader in the freedom struggle, it produced the nation's greatest leaders. Before the Gandhi Era came leaders like , the president of the sister
Indian National Association and later the first Indian
Member Of Parliament in the
British House Of Commons .
With the rise of
Mahatma Gandhi 's popularity and his
Satyagraha art of revolution came
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel ,
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (the nation's first Prime Minister),
Dr. Rajendra Prasad (the nation's first President),
Khan Mohammad Abbas Khan ,
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan ,
Chakravarti Rajgopalachari ,
Jivatram Kripalani and
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad . The Congress under Gandhi's influence became the first integrated mass organization in the country, bringing together millions of people by specifically working against caste differences, untouchability, poverty, and religious and ethnic boundaries. Although predominantly Hindu, it had members from virtually every religion, ethnic group, economic class and linguistic group. At the time of the
Quit India movement, the Congress was undoubtedly the strongest political and revolutionary organization in India. The Indian National Congress could claim to be the true representative of the Indian people.
The 1929 Lahore session under the presidency of
Jawaharlal Nehru holds special significance as in this session "Poorna Swaraj" (complete independence) was declared as the goal of INC. The 26th January 1930 was declared as "Poorna Swaraj Diwas," Independence Day although the British remained in India a number of years longer. It was to commemorate this date particularly that The Indian Constitution was formally adopted on 26 January 1950 (even though it was passed on 26 November 1949).
After the
First World War the party became associated with
Mahatma Gandhi , who remained its unofficial, spiritual leader and mass icon even as younger men and women became party president. The party was in many ways an umbrella organization, sheltering within itself radical socialists, traditionalists and even Hindu and Muslim conservatives.
The party remained in power for thirty ''continuous'' years between independence in 1947 and its first taste of electoral defeat (at the national level) in 1977.
Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel are said to have held the view that the INC was formed only for achieving independence and should have been disbanded in 1947.Jesudasan, Ignatius. A Gandhian theology of liberation. Gujarat Sahitya Prakash: Ananda India, 1987, pp 225. However, at the time of independence, the INC (led by
Jawaharlal Nehru ) was a major political organization in the country, and was established as the major political party. The Congress thus, considering the perceived need for a stable leadership and guiding vision after the terrible chaos and confusion following the
Partition Of India and Independence, was re-established as an electoral party in independent India. Across several general elections, the party ruled uninterrupted until 1977, and has remained a major political force.
After the murder of Gandhi in 1948 and the death of Sardar Patel in 1950,
Jawaharlal Nehru was the sole remaining iconic national leader, and soon the situation became so that Nehru was key to the political potency and future of the Congress. Nehru embraced secularism, socialist economic policies and a non-aligned foreign policy, which became the hallmark of the modern Congress Party. Nehru's policies challenged the landed class, the business class and improved the position of religious minorities and lower caste Hindus. A generation of freedom fighting leaders were soon replaced by a generation of people who had grown up in the shadow of Nehru. Nehru led the Congress Party to consecutively awesome majorities in the elections of 1952, 1957 and 1962.
After Nehru's death in 1964, the party's future first came into question. No leader was competitive enough to touch Nehru's iconic status, so the second-stage leadership mustered around the compromise candidate, the gentle, soft-spoken and Nehruvian
Lal Bahadur Shastri . Shastri remained Prime Minister till his own death in 1966, and a broad Congress Party election opted for
Indira Gandhi , Nehru's daughter, over the right-wing, conservative
Morarji Desai .
In 1955 in Awadi session the party adopted a socialistic pattern of society for India.
]]
The first serious challenge to Congress hegemony came in 1967 when a united opposition, under the banner of
Samyukt Vidhanayak Dal , won control over several states in the
Hindi Belt .
Indira Gandhi , the daughter of
Nehru , and Congress president, was then challenged by the majority of the party leadership. The conflict led to a split, and Indira launched a separate INC. Initially this party was known as Congress (R), but it soon came to be generally known as the ''New Congress''. The official party became known as
Indian National Congress (Organisation) led by
Kamaraj . It was informally called the ''Old Congress''. As
Indira Priyadarshini had control over the state machinery, her faction was recognized as the "real" INC by the
Election Commission Of India , although her organization was the break-away group.
The split can in some ways be seen as a left-wing/right-wing division. Indira Gandhi wanted to use a populist agenda in order to mobilise popular support for the party. She raised slogans such as ''Garibi Hatao'' (Remove Poverty), and wanted to develop closer ties with the
Soviet Union . The regional party elites, who formed the INC(O), stood for a more conservative agenda, and distrusted Soviet help. INC(O) later merged into the
Janata Party .
Gradually, Indira Gandhi grew more and more authoritarian. Following allegations of widespread rigging in the general elections, a court overturned Indira Gandhi's victory in the Parliamentary constituency. Facing growing opposition she proclaimed a state of
National Emergency in 1975, curtailed the powers of the courts, and unleashed a police state with herself as the supreme leader ('acting Prime Minister').
After she lifted the emergency in 1977, more Congress factions were formed, the one remaining loyal to Indira Gandhi being popularly known as Congress(I) with an 'I' for Indira. The Congress (I) was routed in the general elections by the
Janata Party . The party was able to return to power in the 1980 elections. In 1984
Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her
Sikh bodyguards, as a revenge for
Operation Blue Star . In the following days thousands of
Sikh s were killed in the
1984 Riots , mainly in
Delhi , by activists and leaders of the Congress Party.
{Link without Title} .
About the riots, the new PM and Indira's son,
Rajiv Gandhi had infamously remarked, "When a big tree falls, the earth is bound to shake."
After Indira, her son
Rajiv Gandhi , took over as Congress leader and led the party to victory with a large majority in the 1984 Lok Sabha elections. It governed from 1984-9 and then was defeated in the 1989 general election. Rajiv Gandhi was also assassinated by the
LTTE during the course of the election campaign in 1991. Following Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, P.V. Narasimha Rao succeeded him as Congress leader and became prime minister.
The 1990s was a period of prolonged crisis for the Congress. After gradually losing political influence the party asked the Rajiv Gandhi's widow,
Sonia , to accept the position as Congress President. Refusing in 1991, the Congress stuck with
Narasimha Rao . Rao dramatically changed the party's traditionally socialist policies and introduced major economic reforms and liberalization, with the help of then Finance minister (and future Prime Minister)
Manmohan Singh . Nonetheless, his involvement in the bribery of members of parliament was a major issue which led to the downfall of the Congress in 1996, and subsequently his own disgraced exit from politics.
Former treasurer
Sitaram Kesri took over the reins of the party and oversaw the Congress support to the
United Front governments that ran from 1996 - 1998. During his tenure, several key leaders broke away from the party, and serious infighting broke out among those left. In 1998, Sonia Gandhi finally accepted the post of
Congress President , in a move that may have saved the party from extinction.
After her election as party leader, a section of the party, which objected to the choice, broke away and formed the
Nationalist Congress Party . (Where breakaway factions are active, the use of "Congress (I)" to denote the party run by Indira Gandhi's successors continues.) There have been repeated attempts by the Indian nationalist groups (such as the
BJP ) to discredit Sonia Gandhi's leadership on the basis of her foreign origin - she is Italian-born.
Although the Congress expedited the downfall of the NDA government in 1999 by promising an alternative, Ms. Gandhi's decision was followed by fresh elections and the Congress party's worst-ever tally in the lower house. The party spent the interval period forging alliances and overseeing changes in the state and central organizations to revive the party. It has had many electoral successes which led up to the formation of a Congress-led government in 2004.
Since the party has dominated the political landscape of
India for over a century, there are many charges of corruption and similar charges against it. Some examples are:
- Anti-Sikh Riots - After the assassination of Indira Gandhi by Sikh Body Guards following Operation Bluestar , many Congress workers prominently including Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar were accused of inciting and participating in anti-Sikh riots that killed thousands. The Congress apologised many years later for its silence on these events, an apology that was considered inadequate by some of those concerned.
- Volcker Report - The Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) appointed by the United Nations in its final report released on October 27, 2005 confirms that documents state: 'Beneficiary: India: Congress Party' with an entitlement of 4 million barrels of crude' and `Beneficiary: India: Singh Mr K. Natwar' with an entitlement of 4 million barrels'.
- The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has repeatedly accused the Congress of showing favouritism to the Indian Muslim community and the toleration, or even promotion of, Islamic and obscurantism. Congress policy is also accused of causing fifty years of economic stagnation, following Independence, and of excessive veneration of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.
In the
2004 General Elections , the
Congress Alliance won the largest number of seats and got an assurance of support from the Left Front upsetting the
Atal Behari Vajpayee -led
National Democratic Alliance , which was variously forecasted to win outright victory or at least emerge as the largest alliance. Shortly thereafter, Sonia Gandhi was nominated by the Congress-led
United Progressive Alliance to be the next Prime Minister. But in what was described as ''the dropping of a political bombshell'', Sonia Gandhi refused to take the position based on her "inner voice". She backed eminent
Economist , former Union Finance Minister and senior Congress leader
Dr. Manmohan Singh for the post of Prime Minister, and he was sworn-in as Prime Minister on
22 May 2004 .
The organization developed by Mahatma Gandhi's reorganization of the Congress in the years of 1918 to 1920 has largely been retained till today.
In every Indian state and union territory or ''pradesh'', there is a
Pradesh Congress Committee , which is the provincial unit of the party, responsible for directing political campaigns at local and state levels and assisting the campaigns for Parliamentary constituencies. Each PCC has a Working Committee of 10-15 key members, and the state president is the leader of the state unit. The Congressmen elected as members of the states legislative assemblies form the Congress Legislature Parties in the various state assemblies, and their chairperson is usually the party's nominee for Chief Ministership.
The
All India Congress Committee is formed of delegates sent from the PCCs around the country. The delegates elect various Congress committees, including the
Congress Working Committee , which consists of senior party leaders and office bearers, and takes all important executive and political decisions.
The
President Of The Indian National Congress is in effect the party's national leader, head of the organization, head of the Working Committee and all chief Congress committees, chief spokesman and the Congress choice to become the
Prime Minister Of India .
Constitutionally, the president is to be elected by the vote of the PCCs and members of the AICC. However, this procedure has often been by-passed by the Working Committee, choosing to elect its own candidate as an emergency measure.
The
Congress Parliamentary Party is the group of elected MPs in the
Lok Sabha and
Rajya Sabha . Their elected chairperson is the leader of the majority, and supposed to be the Prime Minister. However, there have been notable exceptions.
| Name of President | Life Span | Year of Presidency | Place of Conference |
|---|
Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee | December 29 , 1844 - 1906 | 1885 | Mumbai |
Dadabhai Naoroji | September 4 , 1825 - 1917 | 1886 | Calcutta |
Badaruddin Taiyabji | October 10 , 1844 - 1906 | 1887 | Madras |
George Yule | 1829- 1892 | 1888 | Allahabad |
Sir William Wedderburn | 1838- 1918 | 1889 | Mumbai |
Sir Phero Mehtasi | August 4 , 1845 - 1915 | 1890 | Calcutta |
P. Ananda Charlappa | August 1843- 1908 | 1891 | Nagpur |
Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee | December 29 , 1844 - 1906 | 1892 | Allahabad |
Tatabhai Saroji | September 4 , 1848 - 1925 | 1893 | Lahore |
Alfred Webb | 1834- 1908 | 1894 | Madras |
Surendranath Banerjea | November 10 , 1848 - 1925 | 1895 | Poona |
Rahimtulla M. Sayani | April 5 , 1847 - 1902 | 1896 | Calcutta |
Sir C. Sankaran Nair | July 11 , 1857 - 1934 | 1897 | Amraoti |
Ananda Mohan Bose | September 23 , 1847 - 1906 | 1898 | Madras |
Romesh Chunder Dutt | August 13 , 1848 - 1909 | 1899 | Lucknow |
Sir Narayan Ganesh Chandavarkar | December 2 , 1855 - 1923 | 1900 | Lahore |
Sir Dinshaw Edulji Wacha | August 2 , 1844 - 1936 | 1901 | Calcutta |
Surendranath Banerjea | November 10 , 1825 - 1917 | 1902 | Ahmedabad |
Lalmohan Ghosh | 1848- 1909 | 1903 | Madras |
Sir Henry Cotton | 1845- 1915 | 1904 | Mumbai |
Gopal Krishna Gokhale | May 9 , 1866 - 1915 | 1905 | Benares |
Dadabhai Naoroji | September 4 , 1825 - 1917 | 1906 | Calcutta |
Rashbihari Ghosh | December 23 , 1845 - 1921 | 1907 | Surat |
Rashbihari Ghosh | December 23 , 1845 - 1921 | 1908 | Madras |
Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya | December 25 , 1861 - 1946 | 1909 | Lahore |
Sir William Wedderburn | 1838- 1918 | 1910 | Allahabad |
Pandit Bishan Narayan Dar | 1864- 1916 | 1911 | Calcutta |
Rao Bahadur Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar | 1857- 1921 | 1912 | Bankipur |
Nawab Syed Muhammad Bahadur | ?- 1919 | 1913 | Karachi |
Bhupendra Nath Bose | 1859- 1924 | 1914 | Madras |
Lord Satyendra Prasanna Sinha | March 1863- 1928 | 1915 | Mumbai |
Ambica Charan Mazumdar | 1850- 1922 | 1916 | Lucknow |
Annie Besant | October 1 , 1847 - 1933 | 1917 | Calcutta |
Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya | December 25 , 1861 - 1946 | 1918 | Delhi |
Syed Hasan Imam | August 31 , 1871 - 1933 | 1918 | Mumbai (Special Session) |
Pandit Motilal Nehru | May 6 , 1861 - February 6 , 1931 | 1919 | Amritsar |
Lala Lajpat Rai | January 28 , 1865 - November 17 , 1928 | 1920 | Calcutta (Special Session) |
C. Vijayaraghavachariar Ismail | 1852 - April 19 , 1944 | 1920 | Nagpur |
Hakim Ajmal Khan | 1863 - December 29 , 1927 | 1921 | Ahmedabad |
Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das | November 5 , 1870 - June 16 , 1925 | 1922 | Gaya |
Maulana Mohammad Ali | December 10 , 1878 - January 4 , 1931 | 1923 | Kakinada |
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad | 1888 - February 22 , 1958 | 1923 | Delhi (Special Session) |
Mahatma Gandhi | October 2 , 1869 - January 30 , 1948 | 1924 | Belgaum |
Sarojini Naidu | February 13 , 1879 - March 2 , 1949 | 1925 | Kanpur |
S. Srinivasa Iyengar | September 11 , 1874 - May 19 , 1941 | 1926 | Gauhati |
Dr. M A Ansari | December 25 , 1880 - May 10 , 1936 | 1927 | Madras |
Pandit Motilal Nehru | May 6 , 1861 - February 6 , 1931 | 1928 | Calcutta |
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru | November 14 , 1889 - May 27 , 1964 | 1929 & 30 | Lahore |
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel | October 31 , 1875 - December 15 , 1950 | 1931 | Karachi |
Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya | December 25 , 1861 - 1946 | 1932 | Delhi |
Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya | December 25 , 1861 - 1946 | 1933 | Calcutta |
Nellie Sengupta | 1886- 1973 | 1933 | Calcutta |
Dr. Rajendra Prasad | December 3 , 1884 - February 28 , 1963 | 1934 & 35 | Mumbai |
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru | November 14 , 1889 - May 27 , 1964 | 1936 | Lucknow |
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru | November 14 , 1889 - May 27 , 1964 | 1936& 37 | Faizpur |
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose | January 23 , 1897 - August 18 , 1945 ? | 1938 | Haripura |
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose | January 23 , 1897 - August 18 , 1945 ? | 1939 | Tripuri |
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad | 1888 - February 22 , 1958 | 1940-46 | Ramgarh |
Acharya J.B. Kripalani | 1888 - March 19 , 1982 | 1947 | ? |
Dr Pattabhi Sitaraimayya | December 24 , 1880 - December 17 , 1959 | 1948 & 49 | Jaipur |
Purushottam Das Tandon | August 1 , 1882 - July 1 , 1961 | 1950 | Nasik |
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru | November 14 , 1889 - May 27 , 1964 | 1951 & 52 | New Delhi |
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru | November 14 , 1889 - May 27 , 1964 | 1953 | Hyderabad |
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru | November 14 , 1889 - May 27 , 1964 | 1954 | Calcutta |
U N Dhebar | September 21 , 1905 - 1977 | 1955 | Avadi |
U N Dhebar | September 21 , 1905 - 1977 | 1956 | Amritsar |
U N Dhebar | September 21 , 1905 - 1977 | 1957 | Indore |
U N Dhebar | September 21 , 1905 - 1977 | 1958 | Gauhati |
U N Dhebar | September 21 , 1905 - 1977 | 1959 | Nagpur |
Indira Gandhi | November 19 , 1917 - October 31 , 1984 | 1959 | New Delhi |
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | May 19 , 1913 - June 1 , 1996 | 1960 | Bangalore |
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | May 19 , 1913 - June 1 , 1996 | 1961 | Bhavnagar |
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy | May 19 , 1913 - June 1 , 1996 | 1962 & 63 | Patna |
K. Kamaraj | July 15 , 1903 - October 2 , 1975 | 1964 | Bhubaneswar |
K. Kamaraj | July 15 , 1903 - October 2 , 1975 | 1965 | Durgapur |
K. Kamaraj | July 15 , 1903 - October 2 , 1975 | 1966 & 67 | Jaipur |
S. Nijalingappa | December 10 , 1902 - August 9 , 2000 | 1968 | Hyderabad |
S. Nijalingappa | December 10 , 1902 - August 9 , 2000 | 1969 | Faridabad |
Jagjivan Ram | April 5 , 1908 - July 6 , 1986 | 1970 & 71 | Mumbai |
Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma | August 19 , 1918 - December 26 , 1999 | 1972- 74 | Calcutta |
Dev Kant Baruah | February 22 , 1914 - 1996 | 1975- 77 | Chandigarh |
Indira Gandhi | November 19 , 1917 - October 31 , 1984 | 1978- 83 | New Delhi |
Indira Gandhi | November 19 , 1917 - October 31 , 1984 | 1983 -84 | Calcutta |
Rajiv Gandhi | August 20 , 1944 - May 21 , 1991 | 1985 -91 | Mumbai |
P. V. Narasimha Rao | June 28 , 1921 - December 23 , 2004 | 1992 -96 | Tirupati |
Sitaram Kesri | November 1919- October 24 , 2000 | 1997 -98 | Calcutta |
Sonia Gandhi | born 1946 | 1998-present | |
After the merger of
Sikkim with
India in
1975 , Kazi Lendup Dorjee's
Sikkim National Congress merged with the
Indian National Congress . The Congress Party in Sikkim lost power in 1979. At the last elections in May 2004, it won 1 out of 32 seats in the state assembly, with all other seats going to the ruling
Sikkim Democratic Front .
See Also: Statewise Election history of Congress Party
