The Congress proceedings were organized in the most orderly and efficient manner. They wanted that the Congress should work within the constitutional limits. They expressed their immense faith in the sincerity of the British government. They simply sought autonomy in internal affairs under the British suzerainty. In the initial years, the Congress leaders did not want the Congress to function as political party. The Indian National Congress was completely under the control of moderate leaders during 1885-1905. The national movement was to grow and the country and its people were to know no rest till freedom was won. Thus, with the foundation of the National Congress in 1885, the struggle for India’s freedom from foreign rule was launched in a small but organized manner. Banerjee was one of the first ever Indian barristers and one of the foremost legal luminaries of the day, his election established a healthy precedent that the president should be chosen from a province other than the one in which the Congress was being held. It was presided over by Womesh Chandra Banerjee of Bengal and attended by 72 delegates. Hume yielded results and he organized the first session of the Indian National Congress at Bombay in December, 1885. The Indian leaders, who cooperated with Hume in starting this National Congress, were patriotic men of high character, who willingly accepted Hume’s help as they did not want to arouse official hostility towards their efforts at such an early stage of political activity. As already noted, national movement was growing in the country as a result of the working of powerful forces.
More than anything else, the National Congress represented the urge of the politically conscious Indians to set up a national organization to work for their political and economic advancement.
The “safety valve” theory is, however, a small part of the truth. As Hume put it: “A safety valve for the escape of great and growing forces generated by our own action was urgently needed and no more efficacious safety valve than our Congress Movement could possibly be devised.” One of the main aims of Hume is facilitating the establishment of the National Congress to offer an outlet “a safety valve” to the rising popular dissatisfaction against the British rule. Hume addressed students of Calcutta University urging them to form an association for the mental, moral, social, and political regeneration of the people of India. In Mumbai, he met and discussed with the leaders, who were influential in the presidency, the program of political action to be adopted by the educated Indians. Hume strenuously consolidated the network of contacts, which he established.
0 kommentar(er)
