Formation of INC

and Moderate
Phase
HISTORY

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Formation of INC and the Moderate

Phase (1885-1905)
In the later 1870s and early 1880s, a solid ground had been prepared for the establishment of an all-India
organization. The final shape to this idea was given by the English Civil Servant A.O.Hume who mobilized
the leading intellectuals of the time and with their cooperation organized the first session of the Indian
National Congress.

Contents
 Foundation of Indian National Congress (INC)

 Safety Valve

 Believers

 Opponents

 Aims and objectives

 The Era of Moderates

 Leaders

 Approach

 Contribution

 Demands of moderate leaders and success

 Constitutional

 Administration

 Military

 Economic

 Protection of Civil Rights

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 Some major contributions by moderate leaders

 Evaluation of Moderates

 Significance of Moderates

 Differences of opinion with the Extremist leaders

 Moderate Phase Presidency of INC

 Probable Mains Questions

Foundation of Indian National Congress (INC)

 Indian National Congress(INC) was formed by 72 delegates from all the presidencies and provinces who
met together from 28th to 30th December 1885.

 A.O.Hume played the foundation role under the orders of Viceroy Dufferin.

 INC’s function is primarily divided into 3 phases:

 1885 to 1905: Moderate phase

 1905 to 1918: Extremist phase

 1919 to 1947: Gandhian phase

 The first session of INC was held at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Bombay in December 1885.
Womesh Chandra Banerjee was the first president of INC.

Source : NCERT Book

The First Session of the Indian National Congress

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Points to Remember
 In 1890, Kadambini Ganguly, the first woman graduate of Calcutta University addressed the Congress
session which symbolized the commitment of the freedom struggle to give the women of India their due
status in national life.

 Womesh Chandra Banerjee was the first president of INC.

 During the formation of INC in 1885, Viceroy was Dufferin.

Safety Valve
 There is a theory that Hume found the Congress with the idea that it would prove to be a safety valve for
releasing the growing discontent of Indians.

 A.O.Hume convinced Lord Dufferin not to obstruct the formation of the INC.

Believers:
 The extremist leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai believed in the ‘safety valve theory’.

 Marxist believers opined that “Indian National Congress was born out of a conspiracy to abort a popular
uprising in India and the leaders were party to it”.

Opponents:
 Modern Indian historians however dispute the idea of ‘safety valve’.

 In their opinion, the INC represented the average of the politically conscious Indians to set up a national
body to express the political and economic demands of the Indians.

 If the Indians had convened the body on their own, British officials must have resisted its formation.

 According to the historian Bipin Chandra, the early Congress leaders used Hume as a ‘lightning conductor
that is ‘as a catalyst to bring together the Nationalists forces even if under the guise of a ‘safety valve’.

Aims and Objectives

 The main aims of INC in the initial stage were to:

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 Found a democratic, nationalist movement.

 Politicize and politically educate people.

 Establish the headquarters for a movement.

 Promote friendly relations among nationalist political workers from the different parts of India.

 Develop and propagate an anti-colonial nationalist ideology.

 Formulate and present popular demands before the government to unify the people over a
common economic and political program.

 Develop and consolidate a feeling of national unity among people irrespective of religion, caste, or
province.

 Carefully promote and nurture Indian nationhood.

The Era of Moderates

 The period between 1885 to 1905 was considered a Moderate phase. Let’s study in-depth:

Important Leaders
 Dadabhai Nauroji, Pherozshah Mehta, D.E.Wacha, W.C.Bannerjee, S.N.Banerjee, M.G.Ranade, G.S.Ayer,
G.K.Gokhale, etc. dominated the Congress policies during the early period.

 They were the believers of liberalism and moderate politics and came to be labeled as Moderates. They
were also called ‘Early Nationalists’.

Source : eknowindia.com

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Common Mistake
 UPSC can ask a question in the Prelim examination about identifying the Moderate and Extremists
leaders of the Indian National Congress.

 Students must remember the leaders.

Approach
 Moderate leaders were strong believers in liberalism.

 They believed in gradualism and constitutionalism.

 It involved constitutional agitation within the ambit of the law and showed slow but orderly
political progress.

 Their method of fighting was by reforms and concessions from the British.

 Two prolonged methodologies were adopted. One, create a strong public opinion to arouse
consciousness and national spirit and then educate and unite people on common political
questions.

 Two, persuade the British government and British public opinion to introduce reforms in India on
the lines laid out by the nationalists.

 The nature of the struggle was based on three Ps: Petition, Prayer, and Propaganda.

 Public demands should be presented to the government through resolutions, petitions, meetings,
etc.

 The authorities would concede these demands gradually.

 Moderate leaders don't have faith in the capacity of the masses to govern themselves. They wanted to
train the people of India in the art of self-governance.

 The moderate leaders believed that political connections with Britain were in India’s interest rather
than challenging the British directly.

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Contribution
Demands of moderate leaders and success:
1. Constitutional:

 Abolition of Indian Advisory Council set up under Queen’s proclamation,1858.

 Self-government should be set up within the imperial framework. They demanded an increase in the
representation of Indians in the legislature.

 Direct elections for the membership in Legislature in place of nomination.

 Indian members in the Viceroy’s Executive Council.

 Right to discuss and vote on the budget.

Points to Remember
 Syed Ahmad Khan, Kristodas Pal, V.N.Mandlik, K.L.Nulkar, and Rashbehari Ghosh were the earliest
nominated members in the legislature.

 Achievements:

 Charter Act,1861, Charter Act,1892 & Government of India Act,1909 enacted by the British in
which all these changes were adopted slowly.

2. Administration:
 Open the Indian civil services examination for Indians.

 Holding simultaneous examinations in London and India.

 Increase the age limit of Imperial Civil Service( ICS )aspirants to 21 from 18 years.

 Indianisation of government service:

 Equal emoluments for Indians.

 Salary generated within India should be distributed amongst the Indians and not remitted to
Britain.

 Indians must be given trust and responsibility and not be discriminated against.

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 Call for separation of judicial and executive functions.

 Criticized the oppressive and tyrannical Bureaucracy and an expensive and time-consuming judicial
system.

 Criticized the aggressive foreign policy which resulted in the annexation of Burma, attack on
Afghanistan, and suppression of tribals in the northwest which cost heavily for the Indian treasury.

 Call for an increase in expenditure on welfare, education, irrigation works and improvement of agriculture,
etc.

 Demanded better treatment for Indian labor abroad in other British colonies where they faced operation
and racial discrimination.

 Achievements:

 The Indian Association put a lot of effort into the administrative reforms.

 The Charles Aitchison Commission in 1886 recommended increasing the age of civil services to 23
years.

 The policy of annexation was stopped.

3. Military
 Demanded reduction in the defense expenditure.

 Demanded appointment of Indians at Higher ranks.

4. Economic
 Criticize the economic policies of the British by publishing essays or journals.

 Eg.‘Poverty and unbritish rule’ in India by Dadabhai Nauroji, ‘Economic history of India’ by
R.C.Dutt.

 Domination of writing particularly concerning the reasons behind the poverty in India. They put forward
the ‘drain theory’ to explain the British exploitation of India.

 Eg. Theory of one-way free trade, the agrarian economy of India, Lack of Industrialisation, Investment by
foreigners and drain our wealth, Land revenue policies, destroyed handicrafts, etc.

 They opposed the transformation of a basic self-sufficient Indian economy into a colonial economy. Thus,
Moderates were able to create an all-Indian public opinion that British rule in India was a major cause of
Indian Poverty and economic backwardness.

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 Demanded the development of an independent economy through the involvement of Indian capital and
enterprise.

 The early nationalists demanded reduction in land revenue, abolition of salt tax, improvement in working
conditions of plantation labor, reduction in military expenditure, and encouragement to the modern
industry through tariff protection and direct government aid.

 Achievements:

 The Swadeshi Movement in the early 20th century was an outbreak of realization of exploitation
against the British.

 It is considered as one of the factors of the emerging extremist phase in the latter half.

 From the early 20th century, some reforms were made in the industrial sectors. Eg. Indian-owned
industries were getting licenses during Lord Curzon’s tenure from 1899-1904.

5. Protection of Civil Rights

 They demanded the right to speak through association and freedom of the press.

 They launched a campaign to spread modern democratic ideas and soon the defense of the right to civil
rights became an integral part of the freedom struggle.

Points to Remember
Indian Factories Act,1891:

 The provisions of the Indian Factories Act,1891 is as follows:

1. The age of children who can work in the factories is increased from 9 years to 14 years.

2. Reduced the working hour per day to 7 hours.

3. Maximum working hours for a day were 11 hours.

4. Provide weekly holidays for all.

 Moderate leaders didn't support Factories Act because they believed that the labour legislation would
affect the competitive edge enjoyed by Indian own industries. Also, they didn't want to divide the
movement into class-based movements.

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Some major contributions by moderate leaders:

 Positions held regularly at the INC President chair continuously by moderate leaders made an INC a regular
and consolidated conference of people of India.

 Eg. 1893, 1906 by Dadabhai Nauroji, 1895,1902-Surendranath Banerjee, 1905-Gopal Krishna

Gokhale.

 Constitutional reforms in 1909 were popularly called as Morely-Minto reforms in which the majority of
Moderates demands were accepted.

 Eg. To allow Indians in the Viceroy Executive council, at province non-official majority, voting on
the budget, etc.

 Swadeshi Movement in 1905 was launched by INC under the presidentship of G.K.Gokhale. It was the
successful outcome of moderate leaders’ efforts of creating mass awareness.

 Calcutta session,1906: President: Dadabhai Nauroji tried to resolve the moderates and extremists
leaders’ differences of opinions.

 Social reforms contribution: Eg. Women’s education, Freedom from caste, etc.

 G.K.Gokhale’s Servants of India society trained many youths for the national movements.

Evaluation of Moderates
 The early Nationalists did a great deal to awaken the national sentiment, even though they could not draw
the masses to them.

Significance of Moderates:
 They represented the most progressive forces of the time.

 They were able to create a wide national awakening of all Indians having common interests and the need
to rally around a common program against a common enemy and above all the feeling of belonging to one
Nation.

 They trained people in political work and popularised modern ideas.

 They exposed the exploitative character of Colonial rule thus, undermining its moral foundations.

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 Their political work was based on hard realities and not on shallow sentiments, religion, etc.

 They were able to establish the basic political truth that India should be ruled in the interest of Indians.

 Decorated a solid base for a more vigorous, militant, mass-based National Movement in the years that
followed.

 They failed to widen their democratic base and scope of their demands.

Differences of opinion with the Extremist leaders:

 Dissatisfaction with the moderates on the slow process of developing national movement.

 Neglection towards severe atrocities by the British during a plague outbreak in Poona.

 It was a feeling developed about the British that they don’t deserve to govern on Indian soil.

 International influences were increasing in India. Eg.

 The humiliation of Indians in South Africa,

 Ethiopia defeated Italy (first-time European country faced a defeat.),

 Japan defeated Russia in 1904(the First Asian country to defeat Europeans) etc.

 These events were creating sentiments of love for the motherland and anger of throwing away the
British from the Indian soil.

 The partition of Bengal indicated that the British wanted to divide the Indian people. Hence, patiently
waiting for reforms was not accepted by extremist leaders.

 These differences were visible during Surat split in 1907 where:

1. Extremists wanted to have a Pan-India movement while moderates wanted strictly limiting
Swadeshi to the Bengal region.

2. Extremists wanted to fight against all objectives while moderates focused on specific objectives
only.

Clearly, after the Swadeshi movement, INC got divided and a lot of Indian youth started supporting extremist
leaders like Lokmanya Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai, etc. Even Morley Minto’s reforms formulation
in 1909 was considered as one of the agendas of the British to divide the movement in which they
succeeded. A lot of extremist leaders got arrested after it. Though, we can not take away the credit of
developing INC and awareness campaigns among the people of India from the moderate leaders. They
founded the base of national movements in the 1920s and 1930s.

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Moderate Phase Presidency of INC

Place & Year President Details

Bombay, 1885 W.C.Banerjee The first session of INC

The merger of INC and Indian

Calcutta,1886 Dadabhai Nauroji
National Conference

Madras,1887 Syed Badruddin Tyabji First Muslim President

Allahabad,1888 George Yule First European to chair INC

Bombay,1889 William Wedderburn Second European

Madras,1894 Alfred Webb Third European

Poona,1895 Surendranath Banerjee S.Banerjee chaired for the first time

Fourth and last European to chair

Bombay,1904 Henry Cotton
INC.

Banaras,1905 G.K.Gokhale Launched Swadeshi Movement

Calcutta,1906 Dadabhai Nauroji Moderates & Extremists united

Split between Moderates &

Surat,1907 Rashbehari Ghosh
Extremists.

Mains Question for Practice:

Q.1 What is Safety Valve Theory in the British history of India? (150 words - 10 marks)

Q.2 Explain the moderate leaders approach in the freedom struggle. (250 words - 15 marks)

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