Indian National Congress Sessions from 1885 to 1947: INC Sessions and Presidents List

Indian National Congress Session

The Indian National Congress also known as Congress Party, was established in 1885. The INC is one of the effective political parties facing opposition from other recognized parties like the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) to name a few.

Indian National Congress Sessions From 1885 to 1947 PDF

The Indian National Congress sessions were organized at different places in successive years with every session contributing its own significance to the political history of India. Primarily, the Congress session is divided into four segments namely:

• (1885-1900): Founding years
• (1900-1947): Pre-independence Period
• (1947-1990): Post-independence Period
• (1990-2019): Post-liberalization Period.

Objectives of Congress Session

Founded in 1885, the Indian National Congress is one of the oldest political parties in the world. It was a broad-based party encompassing all sections of the society that took the lead during the Indian Independence struggle.

The primary goal of the Indian national congress (1885-1947) was to create a sense of national unity. The first and foremost objective of the INC was to get rid of British colonial rule and to promote the nation-building process by including all sections of society. Some other objectives of the Congress Session were:

• The INC was committed to social inclusion regardless of caste, gender, and religion and vouched for equal rights of all communities and the upliftment of the underprivileged.
• Promoting political consciousness and political awakening among the citizens of the country.
• Lastly, the Indian National Congress aimed to promote political liberal democracy, anti-colonial ideology, and democratic culture among the people.

Important Indian National Congress Sessions from 1885 to 1947

The Indian National Congress has had a critical role in influencing India’s political scenario. Comprising prominent leaders such as Nehru, Bose, Gandhi, and more, the INC was the first contemporary nationalist movement party in the country.

We have provided a summary of the prominent INC sessions of the party from 1885 to 1947 below:

• 1885: The first session of Indian National Congress was held in 1885 under the presidency of W C Bonnerjee in Bombay. 72 delegates attended the session.
• 1896: The national song of the country ‘Vande Mataram’ was sung for the first time in 1896.
• 1907: The Indian National Congress was divided into two sections – Extremists and moderates.
• 1911: The national anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was sung for the first time in this session.
• 1917: The first women president of the INC was appointed in this session.
• 1919: The massacre of Jallianwala Bagh was strictly condemned and criticized in this session.
• 1925: The first Indian woman president was appointed in this session, and it was Sarojini Naidu.
• 1929: It was the Lahore session where the resolution for Poorna Swaraj was taken, and 26 January was marked as Independence Day.
• 1931: The Irwin-Gandhi pact was approved, and Gandhi was proposed as the representative of INC for the second round table conference.
• 1938: The National planning committee was set up under the leadership of Pandit Nehru.
• 1948: This was the first session to be held after the country’s independence.

Congress President List (1885 – 1947)

Since 1880, educated Indians have acknowledged the requirement for an all-India organization, but the Ilbert Bill dispute fueled this urge even more. One of the most significant political organizations of the 20th century was born with the foundation of Indian National Congress (INC).

Since the INC has held a significant role in the country’s political scenario. Below, we have tabulated the Indian National congress session list from 1885 to 1947.

	INC Session List from 1885 to 1947
Number of Sessions	INC President List	Location	Year	Importance
1	W C Bonnerjee	Bombay	1885	1st session was attended by 72 delegates
2	Dadabhai Naoroji	Calcutta	1886	National Congress and National Conference
3	Syed Badruddin Tyabji	Madras	1887	Appeal made to Muslims to join hands with other national leaders
4	George Yule	Allahabad	1888	First English president
5	Sir William Wedderburn	Bombay	1889	–
6	Feroz Shah Mehta	Calcutta	1890	–
7	P. Ananda Charlu	Nagpur	1891	–
8	W C Bonnerjee	Allahabad	1892	–
9	Dadabhai Naoroji	Lahore	1893	–
10	Alfred Webb	Madras	1894	–
11	Surendranath Banerjee	Poona	1895	–
12	Rahimtullah M. Sayani	Calcutta	1896	National song ‘Vande Mataram’ sung for the first time
13	C. Sankaran Nair	Amravati	1897	–
14	Ananda Mohan Bose	Madras	1898	–
15	Romesh Chandra Dutt	Lucknow	1899	–
16	N G Chandavarkar	Lahore	1900	–
17	Dinshaw E. Wacha	Calcutta	1901	–
18	Surendranath Banerjee	Ahmedabad	1902	–
19	Lal Mohan Ghosh	Madras	1903	–
20	Sir Henry Cotton	Bombay	1904	–
21	Gopal Krishna Gokhale	Benares	1905	Expressed anger against the partition of Bengal
22	Dadabhai Naoroji	Calcutta	1906	The word ‘Swaraj’ was mentioned for the first time
23	Rash Behari Ghosh	Surat	1907	Party splits into extremists and moderates
24	Rash Behari Ghosh	Madras	1908	Continued revious session
25	Madan Mohan Malaviya	Lahore	1909	Indian Councils Act, 1909
26	Sir William Wedderburn	Allahabad	1910	–
27	Bishan Narayan Dhar	Calcutta	1911	‘Jana Gana Mana’ was sung for the first time
28	Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar	Bankipore (Patna)	1912	–
29	Syed Mohammed	Karachi	1913	–
30	Bhupendra Nath Basu	Madras	1914	–
31	Satyendra Prasanna Sinha	Bombay	1915	–
32	Ambica Charan Mazumdar	Lucknow	1916	Lucknow Pact was made in this joint session with the Muslim League
33	Annie Besant (1847 – 1933)	Calcutta	1917	First woman president of the INC
34	Syed Hasan Imam (Bombay) And Madan Mohan Malaviya (Delhi)	Bombay And Delhi	1918	Two sessions were held. First in Bombay in August/September Second in Delhi in December
35	Motilal Nehru	Amritsar	1919	Jallianwala Bagh massacre criticised and condemned
36	C Vijayaraghavachariar	Nagpur	1920	–
37	Hakim Ajmal Khan (acting President For C R Das)	Ahmedabad	1921	–
38	C R Das	Gaya	1922	–
39	Maulana Mohammad Ali,	Kakinada	1923	–
40	M K Gandhi	Belgaum	1924	–
41	Sarojini Naidu (1879 – 1949)	Kanpur	1925	First Indian woman president
42	S Srinivasa Iyengar	Guwahati	1926	–
43	M A Ansari	Madras	1927	–
44	Motilal Nehru	Calcutta	1928	All India Youth Congress formed
45	Jawaharlal Nehru	Lahore	1929	Resolution for “Poorna Swaraj.” Campaign for total independence to be started by the Civil Disobedience Movement; 26 January to be marked as “Independence Day.”
46	–	No Session	1930	–
47	Vallabhbhai Patel	Karachi	1931	Resolution on national economic development and fundamental rights. Irwin-Gandhi Pact was approved. Gandhi was proposed as the INC representative at the second round table conference.
48	Amrit Ranchhorddas Seth	Delhi	1932	–
49	Malaviya Was Elected But Mrs Nellie Sengupta Presided	Calcutta	1933	–
50	Rajendra Prasad	Bombay	1934	–
51	Jawaharlal Nehru	Lucknow	1937	–
52	Jawaharlal Nehru	Faizpur	1936	First rural session/first session to be held in a village
53	Subhas Chandra Bose	Haripura	1938	National planning committee set up under Nehru
54	Subhas Chandra Bose	Tripuri	1939	Despite being elected, Bose was forced to resign because Gandhi backed Pattabhi Sitaramayya. Rajendra Prasad was appointed instead.
55	Abul Kalam Azad	Ramgarh	1940	–
56	–	–	1941-45	No session because of arrest
57	Acharya Kripalani	Meerut	1946	Last session before independence
58	Pattabhi Sitaramayya	Jaipur	1948	First session after independence
59	Purushottam Das Tandon	Nashik	1950	Resigned in 1951; Nehru became President
60	Jawaharlal Nehru	Delhi	1951	–
61	Jawaharlal Nehru	Hyderabad	1953	–
62	Jawaharlal Nehru	Kalyani	1954	–
63	U. N. Dhebar	Avadi(madras)	1955	–
64	U. N. Dhebar	Amritsar	1956	–
65	U. N. Dhebar	Gauhati	1958	–
66	Indira Gandhi	Nagpur	1959	–
67	Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy	Bangalore	1960	–
68	Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy	Bhavnagar	1961	–
69	Damodaran Sanjvayya	Bhubaneshwar	1962	–
70	Damodaran Sanjvayya	Patna	1963	–
71	K. Kamaraj	Bhubaneshwar	1964	–
72	K. Kamaraj	Durgapur	1965	–

History of Indian National Congress Session

The Indian National Congress (INC), which was founded in 1885, quickly rose to prominence as one of the country’s most significant political organizations before independence. In 1885, the first meeting of the Indian National Congress took place.

A party of commoners having notable leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lajpat Rai, Gandhi, Nehru, Bose, etc. as members, it began as an organization made up only of the intellectual elite in India.

• At Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Mumbai on December 28, 1885, the Indian National Congress was established by 72 delegates (then Bombay);
• Allan Octavian Hume, a former Indian Civil Services Officer, started it;
• The Congress was established with the goal of fostering a climate that would allow for polite dialogue between Indians and the British;
• The only educated Indians were those who participated in Congress;
• The British could obtain support for their rule in India through Congress;
• This was made feasible because educated Indians were more receptive to modernization ideas and could therefore influence other Indians;
• The General Secretary of the Congress was Allan Octavian Hume, and the President of the Congress was Womesh Chunder Banerjee;
• As years moved by, some Congress members became inspired by the Swadeshi movement and desired to adhere to the idea of “home rule”;
• Mahatma Gandhi converted the Congress from an exclusive to a people-centered party after being elected president in 1919, despite opposition;
• Many concerns, including caste inequality, the healthcare system, illiteracy, and the Purdah regime, were solved with Mahatma Gandhi’s assistance;
• The Quit India Movement, the establishment of the Indian National Army Defense Committee, and the regrettable Partition of India and Pakistan were all events that the Congress witnessed at the end of British rule.

Indian National Congress Sessions UPSC

The Indian National Congress (INC) was founded in 1885 and it advanced to evolve into one of the most substantial political parties in India before independence. Candidates can download the PDF to learn INC or Indian National Congress Session list and details about the Indian National Congress President list. INC sessions topic comes under the History syllabus for UPSC Prelims, Mains General Studies – 1, and History Optional.

IAS aspirants preparing for the Indian National Congress Sessions UPSC topic must carefully study the UPSC syllabus for a better insight into the examination and outline the preparation strategy accordingly.

Indian National Congress Sessions MCQs

Question: Where was the first Congress Session in Bihar held? (a) Darbhanga, (b) Muzaffarpur, (c) Gaya, (d) Patna
Answer: Patna

Question: Who was the president of the Indian National Congress during the Lucknow Session in 1916? (a) Lala Lajpat Rai, (b) Aurobindo Ghosh, (c) Dadabhai Naoroji, (d) Ambica Charan Mazumdar
Answer: Ambica Charan Mazumdar

Question: Which session of INC passed the famous 4 resolutions, namely – swaraj, swadeshi, Boycott and National Educations? (a) 1929 Lahore session, (b) 1919 Amritsar session, (c) 1906 Calcutta session, (d) 1920 Calcutta session, (e) None of the above/ More than one of the above
Answer: 1906 Calcutta session

Question: With reference to Congress annual sessions, consider the following statements: (1) Sarojini Naidu is the first woman to preside in the Congress session, (2) Gandhiji presided over the congress session of 1924 at Belgaum, (3) Dadabhai Naoroji was elected thrice as the president of Congress. Which of the statements is/ are correct? (a) 2 and 3 only, (b) 1 and 2 only, (c) 1, 2 and 3, (d) 1 and 3 only, (e) None of the above/ More than one of the above
Answer: 2 and 3 only (Dadabhai Naoroji was elected thrice as the president of Congress, Gandhiji presided over the congress session of 1924 at Belgaum).

UPSC Notes
Article 370	Marginal Standing Facility Rate
Press Information Bureau	State Formation in India
Protection of Women From Domestic Violence Act	Right Against Exploitation
Article 12	India China Relations
Competition Commission Of India Cci	Types of Missiles in India
Mountain Passes in India	Genetic Engineering