Important Sessions of Indian National Congress – UPSC

Indian National Congress (INC) was formed on 28 December 1885 by A. O. Hume, along with Dadabhai Naoraji and Dinshaw Edulji Wacha at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Bombay. Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee presided over the first session of INC, attended by 72 delegates from all over the country. The first session started on 28 December and continued till 31 December 1885. Hume assumed the office of the General Secretary. Hereafter, Congress decided to meet every year in December in a different part of the country.

Important Facts about Indian National Congress

• A. O. Hume played an important role in the formation of the Indian National Congress. He is known as the father of the Indian National Congress.

• Lord Dufferin was the Viceroy of India when INC was formed.

• Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee was the president of the first session of the Indian National Congress held in 1885.

• Dadhabhai Naoroji was the first Parsi President of the Indian National Congress. He also presided over the second session of the Indian National Congress held in Calcutta in 1886. He became the Congress President three times.

• Badruddin Tyabji was the first Muslim President of the Indian National Congress, presided over the third INC session held in 1887 in Madras.

• George Yule was the first European president of the Indian National Congress, who presided over the fourth INC session held in 1888 in Allahabad.

• Kadambini Ganguly was the first woman graduate of Calcutta University who addressed the Congress session in 1890 held in Calcutta.

• Rahimtulla M. Sayani was the second Muslim President of the Indian National Congress, who served as president of the INC session held in 1896 in Calcutta.

• Annie Beasant was the first female president of the Indian National Congress presided over the INC session of 1917 held in Calcutta.

• Sarojini Naidu was the first Indian woman president of the Indian National Congress, presided over the INC session of 1925 held in Kanpur.

• Maulana Abul Kalam Azad became the Youngest person to serve as the President of INC at the age of 35 in 1923.

• Hakim Ajmal Khan was the only person to be appointed as the President of INC, All India Muslim League, and All India Khilafat Committee.

• Acharya J. B. Kripalani presided over the last INC session before the Indian Independence, held in Meerut in 1946.

Important Sessions of INC

Year	Place	President	Importance
1885	Bombay	W. C. Bonnerjee	First Session attended by 72 delegates from across the country. Objectives of the INC outlined. W. C. Bonnerjee outlined the four Major objectives of INC: 1) To promote personal intimacy and communication among Indians. 2) To eradicate all primordial loyalties based on religion, caste, race, sex, language. 3) To educate the public opinion & media in India and Britain regarding the political, social, and economic aspirations of Indians. 4) To decide the methodology of struggle against the colonial and imperialist design of government.
1886	Calcutta	Dadhabhai Naoroji	The second session was attended by 436 delegates. The merger of the Indian National Congress and the Indian National Conference.
1887	Madras	Badruddin Tyabji	Presided over by the first Muslim President of INC. Attended by 607 delegates. An appeal was made to the Muslims to join hands with other national leaders.
1888	Allahabad	George Yule	Presided over by the First English president. Attended by 1248 delegates.
1889	Bombay	Sir William Wedderburn
1890	Calcutta	Pheroz Shah Mehta	Kadambini Ganguli was the first woman graduate of Calcutta University to address the INC session.
1891	Nagpur	P. Ananda Charlu
1892	Allahabad	W. C. Bonnerjee
1893	Lahore	Dadabhai Naoroji
1894	Madras	Alfred Webb
1895	Poona	Surendranath Banerjea
1896	Calcutta	Rahimtulla M. Sayani	The National song ‘Vande Mataram’ was sung for the first time by Rabindranath Tagore.
1897	Amravati	C. Sankaran Nair
1898	Madras	Ananda Mohan Bose
1899	Lucknow	Romesh Chandra Dutt	Demand for permanent fixation of land revenue.
1900	Lahore	N. G. Chandavarkar
1901	Calcutta	Dinshaw E. Wacha
1902	Ahmedabad	Surendranath Banerjea
1903	Madras	Lal Mohan Ghosh
1904	Bombay	Sir Henry Cotton.
1905	Benaras	Gopal Krishna Gokhale	Resentment was shown against the Partition of Bengal. Formal Proclamation of the Swadeshi movement against the government.
1906	Calcutta	Dadabhain Naoroji	The word ‘Swaraj’ was mentioned for the first time. Dadabhai Naoroji, in his Presidential address, used the word Swaraj. The following four resolutions were adopted: 1) Resolution of Self Government (Swaraj). 2) Resolution on Swadeshi. 3) Resolution on Boycott. 4) Resolution on National Education.
1907	Surat	Rash Behari Ghosh	The ‘Surat Split’- the Congress splits into the Moderates and the Extremists. Adjournment of Session.
1908	Madras	Rash Behari Ghosh	The previous session continued. The Constitution of the INC was drawn.
1909	Lahore	Madan Mohan Malaviya	Indian Councils Act, 1909. INC expressed disapproval over the formation of separate electorates based on religion as given in the Indian Councils Act, 1909.
1910	Allahabad	Sir William Wedderburn
1911	Calcutta	Bishan Narayan Dar	The National Anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was sung for the first time. Sarala Devi Chaudhurani intoned the song with a few school students.
1912	Bankipur (Patna)	Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar
1913	Karachi	Syed Mohammed
1914	Madras	Bhupendra Nath Basu
1915	Bombay	S. P. Sinha	The Constitution of the INC altered to admit the delegates from the extremist section.
1916	Lucknow	A. C. Majumdar	Reunion of Congress factions. Extremists and Moderates reunited after the Surat split. Joint session with the Indian Muslim League (IML). The Lucknow Pact was signed between INC and IML.
1917	Calcutta	Annie Besant	Annie Besant was the first woman President of INC.
1918	Bombay (special session held in August 1918)	Syed Hasan Imam	Special Session convened to deliberate the contentious Montagu- Chelmsford Reforms scheme. Resolution on Women’s voting rights by Sarala Devi Chaudhurani.
1918	Delhi	Modan Mohan Malviya	The second split in Congress on the issue of Montague’s declaration. The moderates, led by Surendranath Banerjee, supported the Montague declaration in November 1918.
1919	Amritsar	Motilal Nehru	Strongly condemned the Jallianwalla Massacre. Congress extended support to the Khilafat movement. New Constitution of INC framed.
1920	Calcutta (special session in September 1920)	Lala Lajpat Rai	Mahatma Gandhi moved the Non-Cooperation Resolution.
1920	Nagpur	C. Vijayaraghavachariar	Change in the Constitution of INC. Congress Working Committee (CWC) was set up, consisting of 15 members.
1921	Ahmedabad	Hakim Ajmal Khan (acting president for C. R. Das)
1922	Gaya	C. R. Das	C. R. Das and other leaders broke away from INC. Formation of Swaraj Party with C. R. Das as the president and Motilal Nehru as its secretary.
1923	Kakinada	Maulana Abul Kalam Azad	Maulana Azad was the youngest Congress President.
1924	Belgaum	M. K. Gandhi	Only INC session presided over by Mahatma Gandhi.
1925	Kanpur	Sarojini Naidu	Sarojini Naidu was the first Indian Woman President of INC.
1926	Gauhati	S. Srinivasa Iyengar
1927	Madras	M. A. Ansari	Independence Resolution was adopted for the first time. Resolved to boycott the Simon Commission.
1928	Calcutta	Motilal Nehru	The first All India Youth Congress was formed.
1929	Lahore	Jawaharlal Nehru	Resolution for ‘Poorna Swaraj’ was passed. Authorized the Working Committee to launch the Civil Disobedience Movement.
1931	Karachi	Vallabhbhai Patel	Congress adopted the resolution on Fundamental Rights and the National Economic Programme. Endorsement of Gandhi-Irwin pact. Gandhi Ji was nominated to represent INC in the Second Round Table Conference held in London.
1932	Delhi	Amrit Ranchhorddas Seth
1933	Calcutta	Nellie Sengupta
1934	Bombay	Rajendra Prasad	INC first time demanded the separate Constituent Assembly to frame the Constitution of India.
1936	Lucknow	Jawaharlal Nehru	The president urged Congress to adopt socialism as its goal.
1937	Faizpur	Jawaharlal Nehru	First Session to be held in a village. INC and All India Kisan Sabha joint session.
1938	Haripura	Subhas Chandra Bose	National Planning Committee was set up under the Chairmanship of Jawaharlal Nehru.
1939	Tripura	Subhas Chandra Bose	S. C. Bose was re-elected as President but had to resign since Gandhi Ji supported Pattabhi Sitaramayya. Rajendra Prasad took over as president after S. C. Bose resigned. Subhas Chandra Bose formed the Forward Bloc party.
1940	Ramgarh	Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
1946	Meerut	Acharya J. B. Kripalani	Last session of INC before Independence.
1948	Jaipur	Pattabhi Sitaramanyya	First INC session after Independence.
1950	Nasik	Purushottam Das Tondon	Purushottam Das Tandon resigned in September 1951, after which Jawaharlal Nehru became the President.

The INC Sessions for the years 1930, 1935, and 1941-45 could not be held.