Indian National Congress Sessions Before Independence| Important Facts

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Indian National Congress Sessions

Indian National Congress founders: Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji and Dinshaw Edulji Wacha.
Indian National Congress was founded on 28 December 1885.
The first session of the Indian National Congress was held in Bombay from 28–30 December 1885 under the chairmanship of Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee.
The early leadership – Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozeshah Mehta, Badruddin Tyabji, W.C. Bonnerji, Surendranath Banerji, Romesh Chandra Dutt, S. Subramania Iyer, among others – was largely from Bombay and Calcutta.
A retired British official, A.O. Hume, also played a part in bringing Indians from the various regions together.

Formation of Indian National Congress was an effort in the direction of promoting the process of nation building.
In an effort to reach all regions, it was decided to rotate the Congress session among different parts of the country.
The President belonged to a region other than where the Congress session was being held.

Important Social Reforms Acts Of British India

List of Indian National Congress Sessions

Year	Location	President	Importance
1885	Bombay	W C Bonnerjee	1st session attended by 72 delegates
1886	Calcutta	Dadabhai Naoroji	National Congress and National Conference
1887	Madras	Syed Badruddin Tyabji	Appeal made to Muslims to join hands with other national leaders
1888	Allahabad	George Yule	First English president
1889	Bombay	Sir William Wedderburn	–
1890	Calcutta	Feroz Shah Mehta	–
1891	Nagpur	P. Ananda Charlu	–
1892	Allahabad	W C Bonnerjee	–
1893	Lahore	Dadabhai Naoroji	–
1894	Madras	Alfred Webb	–
1895	Poona	Surendranath Banerjee	–
1896	Calcutta	Rahimtullah M. Sayani	National song ‘Vande Mataram’ sung for the first time
1897	Amravati	C. Sankaran Nair	–
1898	Madras	Ananda Mohan Bose	–
1899	Lucknow	Romesh Chandra Dutt	–
1900	Lahore	N G Chandavarkar	–
1901	Calcutta	Dinshaw E. Wacha	–
1902	Ahmedabad	Surendranath Banerjee	–
1903	Madras	Lal Mohan Ghosh	–
1904	Bombay	Sir Henry Cotton	–
1905	Benares	Gopal Krishna Gokhale	Expressed resentment against the partition of Bengal
1906	Calcutta	Dadabhai Naoroji	The word ‘Swaraj’ was mentioned for the first time
1907	Surat	Rash Behari Ghosh	Party splits into extremists and moderates
1908	Madras	Rash Behari Ghosh	Previous session continued
1909	Lahore	Madan Mohan Malaviya	Indian Councils Act, 1909
1910	Allahabad	Sir William Wedderburn	–
1911	Calcutta	Bishan Narayan Dhar	‘Jana Gana Mana’ sung for the first time
1912	Bankipore (Patna)	Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar	–
1913	Karachi	Syed Mohammed	–
1914	Madras	Bhupendra Nath Basu	–
1915	Bombay	Satyendra Prasanna Sinha	–
1916	Lucknow	Ambica Charan Mazumdar	Lucknow Pact – joint session with the Muslim League
1917	Calcutta	Annie Besant (1847 – 1933)	First woman president of the INC
1918	Bombay And Delhi	Syed Hasan Imam (Bombay) And Madan Mohan Malaviya (Delhi)	Two sessions were held. First in Bombay in August/September Second in Delhi in December.
1919	Amritsar	Motilal Nehru	Jallianwala Bagh massacre strongly condemned
1920	Nagpur	C Vijayaraghavachariar	–
1921	Ahmedabad	Hakim Ajmal Khan (acting President For C R Das)	–
1922	Gaya	C R Das	–
1923	Kakinada	Maulana Mohammad Ali,	–
1924	Belgaum	M K Gandhi	–
1925	Kanpur	Sarojini Naidu (1879 – 1949)	First Indian woman president
1926	Guwahati	S Srinivasa Iyengar	–
1927	Madras	M A Ansari	–
1928	Calcutta	Motilal Nehru	All India Youth Congress formed
1929	Lahore	Jawaharlal Nehru	Resolution for ‘Poorna Swaraj.’ Civil Disobedience movement for complete independence to be launched, 26 January to be observed as ‘Independence Day’.
1930	No Session	–	–
1931	Karachi	Vallabhbhai Patel	Resolution on fundamental rights and national economic progress. Gandhi-Irwin pact endorsed. Gandhi nominated to represent INC in the second round table conference
1932	Delhi	Amrit Ranchhorddas Seth	–
1933	Calcutta	Malaviya Was Elected But Mrs Nellie Sengupta Presided	–
1934	Bombay	Rajendra Prasad	–
1937	Lucknow	Jawaharlal Nehru	–
1936	Faizpur	Jawaharlal Nehru	First rural session/first session to be held in a village
1938	Haripura	Subhas Chandra Bose	National planning committee set up under Nehru
1939	Tripuri	Subhas Chandra Bose	Bose was elected but had to resign since Gandhi supported Pattabhi Sitaramayya. Instead, Rajendra Prasad was appointed
1940	Ramgarh	Abul Kalam Azad	–
1941-45	–	–	No session because of arrest
1946	Meerut	Acharya Kripalani	Last session before independence

Difference Between Non Co-Operation Movement And Civil Disobedience Movement

Facts about Indian National Congress Sessions

The national word was added in the name of Congress in the Nagpur session of Congress (1891).

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee sang the song “Vande-Mataram” composed by him in the Calcutta session of the Congress of 1896.
Dada Bhai Nauroji mentioned Swaraj for the first time in his speech in the Calcutta session of Congress (1906).
The first partition of the Congress took place in the Surat Session of the Congress (1907). This session was presided over by Ras Bihari Bose.
National Anthem “Jan Gan Man” composed by Ravindranath Tagore was sung for the first time in the Calcutta session of Congress (1911).
The divided faction of the Congress unite in the Congress session of Lucknow (1916), and the Lucknow agreement held between the Congress and the Muslim League.The first joined session of the Congress and the Muslim League took place in Lucknow (1916).
The Lucknow session of the Congress (1916) was chaired by Ambika Charan Mazumdar.

Non-cooperation was proposed by Gandhiji at the Calcutta session of the Congress of 1920. This session was presided over by Lala Lajpat Rai..
The goal of achieving self-government with constitutional methods was changed by the goal of achieving Swaraj with non-violent and proper ways in the Nagpur session of Congress (1920).
C.R. Das was elected the president of the Ahmedabad session of Congress (1921) but due to his being in jail, Hakim Ajmal Khan chaired the session.
All India Khadi Board was established at Kakinada Conference held in 1923.
For the first time in the Guwahati Conference of Congress in 1926, it was mandatory to Congress workers to wear khadi.
It was decided for the first time in the Lahore session of Congress (1929) to celebrate January 26 as Independence Day on each year.
Proposals related to national economic programs and fundamental rights passed in the Karachi Convention of Congress (1931). The Karachi proposal passed in this conference was a document of the fundamental political and economic policies of the Congress.
In the Lucknow session of Congress (1936), president Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru first interpreted communism in scientific and economic terms.
The Congress session of 1938 took place in the village named Haripura, which was headed by Subhash Chandra Bose.
Subhash Chandra Bose once again was elected to the post of President in the 1939 Tripuri Session of the Congress, Subhash Chandra Bose resigned from the presidency due to Gandhi’s opposition to the defeat of Candidate Pattabhi Sita Ramaiya proposed by Gandhiji. For the remaining session, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was appointed as the Chairman.

The resolution of personal satyagraha passed in the Raigarh session of Congress(1940).
Dr. Rajendra Prasad was the president of Indian National Congress at the time of India’s independence.
Mrs. Anni Besant (1917) was the first woman president of Congress.
Mrs. Sarojini Naidu was the first Indian woman president of Congress (1925).
Mahatma Gandhi chaired the Belgaun session of Congress (1924).

The first Muslim president of the Congress was Badruddin Tayyabji. (1887).
The first British president of Congress was George Yule (1797).
Most of the time Dada Bhai Nauroji and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru chaired the Congress.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad received the honor of being the youngest president of Congress.