The Indian National Congress Is Founded
Seventy-three delegates meet in Bombay in 1885 and start what becomes the vehicle of Indian nationalism
Quick facts
- Founded
- 1885, Bombay
- Founding delegates
- Seventy-three
- Catalyst figure
- A. O. Hume, retired British civil servant
- Radicalized after
- 1905 partition of Bengal
What happened
In 1885, inspired by a suggestion from A. O. Hume, a retired British civil servant, seventy-three Indian delegates met in Bombay and founded the Indian National Congress. At first, the Library of Congress country study records, it functioned more as a debating society that met annually to express its loyalty to the Raj and passed resolutions on less controversial issues such as civil rights or opportunities in government, and it largely voiced the interests of urban elites. After the 1905 partition of Bengal, Congress hardened, backing the swadeshi boycott of British goods and mobilizing anti-British feeling. Over the following decades it grew into the principal organization of the independence movement; the National Archives records that the Congress Party under M.K. Gandhi, Nehru, and other leaders demanded a free united India.
Why it matters
Congress became the institutional spine of Indian nationalism and, after independence, the party that governed India for most of its first half-century. Its evolution from a loyal debating society into a mass freedom movement tracks the whole arc of the anti-colonial struggle.
How we know
The founding, membership, and early character of Congress are documented in the Library of Congress India country study and its later leadership is described by the UK National Archives.
Sources
- Library of Congress, Federal Research Division. India: A Country Study (The Independence Movement) · Primary source (author-declared)countrystudies.us · Cited as a "primary" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- The National Archives (UK). Indian Independence · Primary source (author-declared)nationalarchives.gov.uk · Cited as a "primary" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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