HT podcast: The birth and rise of the Indian National Congress

The first session of the Congress was held in December 1885 in Mumbai, with over 70 delegates from different parts of the country attending.

It had been close to three decades since the Mutiny. It was a period of gloom, as the Crown consolidated its rule, caring little for the well-being of Indians. But a set of early Indian nationalists and a somewhat unusual British reformer, AO Hume, came together in Bombay to set up what was to become the primary vehicle of India’s political aspirations — the Indian National Congress. The first session of the Congress was held in December 1885 in Mumbai, with over 70 delegates from different parts of the country attending.

The remarkable Dadabhai Naoroji exposed Britain’s great drain of wealth from India through economic exploitation. Congress resolutions expanded public consciousness. (Wikimedia Commons)

In the early years, the Congress sought reforms and increased political voice for Indians. Its leaders, scarred by the experience of the Mutiny and overwhelmed by the power of Pax Britannica, were careful to express their commitment to moderate and constitutional methods — and seek change within the Empire. But while restrained in their temperament, goals and methods, these early nationalists were firmly rooted in the Indian milieu and laid the foundations for a stronger anti-imperialist movement.

The remarkable Dadabhai Naoroji exposed Britain’s great drain of wealth from India through economic exploitation. Congress resolutions expanded public consciousness. The organisation’s political importance grew. As British repression continued, and Indian nationalist tempo increased, the party slowly saw a division between moderates and extremists, with the latter arguing that it was time to assert and confront the Raj.

In this episode, Dinyar Patel, a Harvard-trained historian and an accomplished biographer of Naoroji, brings alive the early years of Indian nationalism, why early nationalists fought for reforms within the Empire, and while acknowledging that it was meant to be a “safety valve”, debunks the theory of the Indian National Congress being a British conspiracy to defuse Indian nationalist aspirations.

Link to podcast:https://www.htsmartcast.com/history-podcasts/1947-road-to-indian-independence/1885-the-indian-national-congress-is-born/