Congress Foundation Day : December 28
The Indian National Congress (INC), India’s largest opposition party, marked its 138th foundation day on December 28.
- The English bureaucrat Allan Octavian Hume or AO Hume is credited as the founder of the organisation.
- On December 28, 1885, 72 social reformers, journalists and lawyers congregated for the first session of the INC at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, Bombay.
- At that point, the aim of this group was not to demand independence from the ongoing colonial rule but to influence the policies of the British government in favour of Indians.
- The party largely consisted of educated, upper-class people who were likely to have studied abroad.
- But with time, this grouping became more diverse, as the organisation began setting up provincial organisations.
- At its Eleventh Session in 1895, there was an increase in the number of delegates from 1,163 the previous year to 1,584.
- President Surendranath Banerjea congratulated the Congress for bringing together “the scattered element of a vast and diversified population.”
