Political Party Name: Indian National Congress
Party Formed Year: 1885
Founder: British
civil servant Allan Octavian Hume
Party Symbol: Right
hand
Party Leader Name: Sonia
Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi, the Parliamentary Chairperson of the
INC, succeeded her husband Rajiv Gandhi as the Congress President
in 1998 and has remained in that post ever since. She is the longest serving
President of the party in the history of the INC. She has served as the
President of the National Advisory Council (NAC), which is an unconstitutional
body set up to aid and advise the Prime Minister in his governance of the
country. She has also served as the Leader of Opposition in the 13th Lok Sabha
in 1999, when the BJP-led NDA government came to power. Sonia Gandhi is the
Chairperson of the present United Progressive Alliance (UPA) since 2004, when
theCongress-led UPA came to power consecutively in 2004 and 2009.
About Party:
Founded in the year 1885 under the guidance of British civil
servant Allan Octavian Hume, the Indian
National Congress (INC), popularly known as the Congress, is the country’s
oldest political party. Today it is one of the two major national political
parties, other being the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and operates on the
ideology of Gandhian Socialism and Social Democracy. Its political position is
centre-left in contrast to BJP which is the right-wing religious nationalist.
Members of the Theosophical Society, namely Dadabhai Naoroji, Surendranath Banerjee, M.G. Ranade, Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, Dinshaw Wacha, Monomohun Ghose and William Wedderburn, headed by A.O. Hume, established theIndian National Congress to play a pivotal role in the Indian freedom struggle against the British rule. Liberal nationalism became the war-cry of the Congress, drawing to it more than 15 million members and triple the number of participants in the anti-imperialist struggle. Though it began as a political party, the INC was symbolic of the largest vehicle of the Indian National Movement in the pre-independent era, being the sole representative of the people of the country and representing social reform causes and human progress.
The Congress is credited with a number of historic demands and movements of the freedom struggle. With Mahatma Gandhi adorning the centre stage of Indian freedom struggle, a number of other members of the Congress joined the freedom struggle. Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Jayaprakash Narayan, Jivatram Kripalani, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Rajendra Prasad and others followed in the aura of Gandhian policy of Satyagraha and his concept of non-violence. TheCongress became increasingly popular among the masses, though with years, it began to identify itself with the big business houses of the Tata’s and the Birla’s. In the final years of the British rule, the Congress became synonymous to the leadership and spiritual guidance of Mahatma Gandhi. With the independence of India being achieved in 1947 and the immediate assassination of Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru became the sole undisputed head of the INC in independent India. The INC faced severe crisis in 1967, when Indira Gandhi, the then President of Congress, faced criticisms and oppositions from the majority members of the INC, as her leadership failed to achieve success in the states of the Hindi belt. The Congress witnessed a split, as a result of the growing tensions between the elder members and the young members of the INC. The faction headed by Indira Gandhi came to be called Congress (R) or the ‘New Congress’ and the official and original Congress party led by Kamaraj came to be called Indian National Congress (Organization) or INC(O) or the ‘Old Congress’. Soon however, the Election Commission of India identified the ‘New Congress’ as the official Congress. With Indira Gandhi becoming autocratic and dictatorial in her approach, as the Congress President as well as the PM of India, increasing factionalism took place within the Congress party. In the face of severe opposition, she unleashed a police state in the country by proclaiming a National Emergency in 1975. She lifted the emergency in 1977 when fresh elections were held. Indira Gandhi’s authoritarian rule led to the first electoral defeat of the Congress in the hands of the Janata Party in 1977.
The present President of the INC is Indira Gandhi’s daughter-in-law Sonia Gandhi, the wife of Rajiv Gandhi. The present Vice President of the INC is Sonia Gandhi’s son Rahul Gandhi. The Nehru-Gandhi legacy has percolated to the party’s top leadership even today. The Congress has won a number of general elections in the country. The 2009 elections made the Congress form the present government in a Congress-led UPA alliance. Manmohan Singh is the present Prime Minister of India, and represents the Congress party.
Members of the Theosophical Society, namely Dadabhai Naoroji, Surendranath Banerjee, M.G. Ranade, Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, Dinshaw Wacha, Monomohun Ghose and William Wedderburn, headed by A.O. Hume, established theIndian National Congress to play a pivotal role in the Indian freedom struggle against the British rule. Liberal nationalism became the war-cry of the Congress, drawing to it more than 15 million members and triple the number of participants in the anti-imperialist struggle. Though it began as a political party, the INC was symbolic of the largest vehicle of the Indian National Movement in the pre-independent era, being the sole representative of the people of the country and representing social reform causes and human progress.
The Congress is credited with a number of historic demands and movements of the freedom struggle. With Mahatma Gandhi adorning the centre stage of Indian freedom struggle, a number of other members of the Congress joined the freedom struggle. Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Jayaprakash Narayan, Jivatram Kripalani, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Rajendra Prasad and others followed in the aura of Gandhian policy of Satyagraha and his concept of non-violence. TheCongress became increasingly popular among the masses, though with years, it began to identify itself with the big business houses of the Tata’s and the Birla’s. In the final years of the British rule, the Congress became synonymous to the leadership and spiritual guidance of Mahatma Gandhi. With the independence of India being achieved in 1947 and the immediate assassination of Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru became the sole undisputed head of the INC in independent India. The INC faced severe crisis in 1967, when Indira Gandhi, the then President of Congress, faced criticisms and oppositions from the majority members of the INC, as her leadership failed to achieve success in the states of the Hindi belt. The Congress witnessed a split, as a result of the growing tensions between the elder members and the young members of the INC. The faction headed by Indira Gandhi came to be called Congress (R) or the ‘New Congress’ and the official and original Congress party led by Kamaraj came to be called Indian National Congress (Organization) or INC(O) or the ‘Old Congress’. Soon however, the Election Commission of India identified the ‘New Congress’ as the official Congress. With Indira Gandhi becoming autocratic and dictatorial in her approach, as the Congress President as well as the PM of India, increasing factionalism took place within the Congress party. In the face of severe opposition, she unleashed a police state in the country by proclaiming a National Emergency in 1975. She lifted the emergency in 1977 when fresh elections were held. Indira Gandhi’s authoritarian rule led to the first electoral defeat of the Congress in the hands of the Janata Party in 1977.
The present President of the INC is Indira Gandhi’s daughter-in-law Sonia Gandhi, the wife of Rajiv Gandhi. The present Vice President of the INC is Sonia Gandhi’s son Rahul Gandhi. The Nehru-Gandhi legacy has percolated to the party’s top leadership even today. The Congress has won a number of general elections in the country. The 2009 elections made the Congress form the present government in a Congress-led UPA alliance. Manmohan Singh is the present Prime Minister of India, and represents the Congress party.
Party Office Address:
24, Akbar Road,
New Delhi - 110011,
India
Phone: 91-11-23019080
Fax: 91-11-23017047
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