INC Sessions & Presidents
National Movement · INC अधिवेशन और अध्यक्ष · 18 facts
1st INC Session — December 28-31, 1885 in Bombay; President: WC Bonnerjee; 72 delegates attended. AO Hume was the founder.
1886 INC Session in Calcutta — President: Dadabhai Naoroji — he became the first Indian president. Drain Theory was first systematically presented here.
1905 Banaras Session — President: Gokhale; Swadeshi and Boycott resolutions were passed in response to Bengal Partition — marking the start of mass movement.
1907 Surat Session — the historic split of INC into Moderates (Gokhale) and Extremists (Tilak). Tilak's group was expelled from the Congress.
1916 Lucknow Session — Moderates and Extremists were reunited; Lucknow Pact was signed between Congress and Muslim League (Tilak and Jinnah); Home Rule demand raised.
1920 Nagpur Special Session — Gandhi took control of Congress, NCM resolution was passed, Congress constitution was rewritten by Gandhi, and Congress reorganized on linguistic lines.
1924 Belgaum Session — Gandhi was elected President of INC for the only time in his life — he presided over this session to unite the divided Congress.
1929 Lahore Session — President: Jawaharlal Nehru; Purna Swaraj (Complete Independence) resolution was passed; January 26 declared as Independence Day to be observed annually.
1931 Karachi Session — President: Sardar Patel; adopted the Fundamental Rights and National Economic Programme resolution; Gandhi-Irwin Pact was ratified.
1936-37 Lucknow and Faizpur Sessions — President: JL Nehru; Congress decided to contest 1937 provincial elections; Congress won majority in 8 out of 11 provinces.
1938 and 1939 Haripura and Tripuri Sessions — Subhas Chandra Bose was elected President; at Tripuri he defeated Gandhi's candidate Pattabhi Sitaramayya; resigned later.
1940 Ramgarh Session — President: Maulana Azad; Congress decided not to support Britain in WWII; Individual Satyagraha was launched with Vinoba Bhave as first satyagrahi.
1946 Meerut Session — President: JB Kripalani; Congress participated in the first elections under Cabinet Mission plan; Congress formed governments in most provinces.
Sarojini Naidu was the first Indian woman President of INC — she presided over the 1925 Kanpur Session and was called the 'Nightingale of India'.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was the youngest Congress President — he presided over the Ramgarh Session (1940) at the age of 31 and also the 1946 session.
1st session significance: AO Hume created INC as a 'safety valve' according to Lala Lajpat Rai — to channel Indian discontent into constitutional methods rather than armed revolt.
Haripura Session (1938) was notable for Bose's presidency and his demand for an independent planning commission for India — which he established as a model when he became president.
Congress presidents from Bombay region dominated early INC — WC Bonnerjee, Pherozeshah Mehta, Badruddin Tyabji were among the first presidents, reflecting INC's early Bombay origins.