Study Guide · Chapter 3
2. MASTER TABLE — Year, Place, President, Key Significance
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2. MASTER TABLE — Year, Place, President, Key Significance
This is the core table to memorize. Sessions with the highest exam frequency are marked with ★. Entries marked "(details uncertain — verify before rote-memorizing)" reflect gaps in commonly available secondary-source consensus; do not treat them as confirmed exam facts without cross-checking a primary NCERT/Spectrum table.
| Year | Place | President | Key Significance / Resolutions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1885 ★ | Bombay | W.C. Bonnerjee | Founding/first session of INC; 72 delegates; held at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College; originally planned for Poona, shifted to Bombay due to a cholera outbreak; A.O. Hume was the moving spirit (General Secretary), Lord Dufferin was Viceroy |
| 1886 | Calcutta | Dadabhai Naoroji | Second session; INC's permanent Constitution/organisational structure discussed |
| 1887 ★ | Madras | Badruddin Tyabji | First Muslim President of INC |
| 1888 ★ | Allahabad | George Yule | First Englishman/British President of INC |
| 1889 | Bombay | Sir William Wedderburn | Large session; first time a large number of women delegates attended (incl. through the influence of social reformers) |
| 1890 | Calcutta | Pherozeshah Mehta | |
| 1891 | Nagpur | P. Ananda Charlu | (details commonly listed; verify spelling — also rendered "Anandacharlu") |
| 1892 | Allahabad | W.C. Bonnerjee (2nd time) | |
| 1893 | Lahore | Dadabhai Naoroji (2nd time) | |
| 1894 | Madras | Alfred Webb | An Irish Nationalist MP presided |
| 1895 | Poona | Surendranath Banerjee | |
| 1896 ★ | Calcutta | Rahimtulla M. Sayani | "Vande Mataram" sung for the first time at a Congress session (composed by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay) |
| 1897 | Amraoti (Amravati) | C. Sankaran Nair | |
| 1898 | Madras | Ananda Mohan Bose | |
| 1899 | Lucknow | Romesh Chunder Dutt | |
| 1900 | Lahore | N.G. Chandavarkar | |
| 1901 | Calcutta | Dinshaw Edulji Wacha | |
| 1902 | Ahmedabad | Surendranath Banerjee (2nd time) | |
| 1903 | Madras | Lal Mohan Ghosh | |
| 1904 | Bombay | Sir Henry Cotton | |
| 1905 ★ | Benares (Varanasi) | Gopal Krishna Gokhale | Held in the backdrop of the Partition of Bengal (1905) by Lord Curzon; Swadeshi and Boycott movements were endorsed |
| 1906 ★ | Calcutta | Dadabhai Naoroji (3rd time) | "Swaraj" declared as the goal of INC for the first time ("Self-government or Swaraj like the United Kingdom or the Colonies"); this session also saw rising Moderate–Extremist tension |
| 1907 ★★★ | Surat | Rash Behari Ghosh | THE SURAT SPLIT — Congress split into Moderates (Naram Dal) and Extremists/Garam Dal (Lal-Bal-Pal — Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal); Tilak's group wanted Lala Lajpat Rai as president, Moderates backed Rash Behari Ghosh; chair-throwing incident; session broke up in disorder |
| 1908 | Madras | Rash Behari Ghosh (2nd time) | Only Moderates attended (post-split); new constitution for INC drafted here, adopted 1909 |
| 1909 | Lahore | Madan Mohan Malaviya | Session held in the year of the Morley-Minto Reforms (Indian Councils Act 1909) |
| 1910 | Allahabad | Sir William Wedderburn (2nd time) | |
| 1911 ★ | Calcutta | Bishan Narayan Dhar | "Jana Gana Mana" (composed by Rabindranath Tagore) sung for the first time at this session |
| 1912 | Bankipore (Patna) | R.N. Mudholkar | |
| 1913 | Karachi | Nawab Syed Muhammad Bahadur | (details on exact spelling — verify) |
| 1914 | Madras | Bhupendra Nath Bose | |
| 1915 | Bombay | Satyendra Prasanna Sinha (Lord Sinha) | |
| 1916 ★★★ | Lucknow | Ambika Charan Majumdar | LUCKNOW PACT — Reunion of Moderates and Extremists (Tilak group readmitted into Congress); also the Congress–Muslim League Pact (Lucknow Pact) signed — Congress and Muslim League came together on a joint scheme of constitutional reforms and separate electorates; Jinnah played a key role from the League side; Annie Besant and Tilak both attended |
| 1917 ★★★ | Calcutta | Annie Besant | First woman President of INC (an Englishwoman/Irish-born theosophist); held during the Home Rule Movement |
| 1918 | Bombay (Special Session) | Syed Hasan Imam | Special session called to discuss the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms proposals |
| 1918 | Delhi (Regular/Annual Session) | Madan Mohan Malaviya (2nd time) | |
| 1919 ★ | Amritsar | Motilal Nehru | Held soon after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (April 1919); Congress censured the massacre and the Rowlatt Act; Mohandas K. Gandhi attended as a rising leader (not yet president) |
| 1920 ★★★ | Nagpur | C. Vijayaraghavachariar | Non-Cooperation Movement formally adopted (ratifying the special Calcutta session of Sept 1920 presided by Lala Lajpat Rai); new Constitution of the Congress adopted (Gandhian reorganisation — Congress became a mass-based party with provincial units on linguistic lines, entry fee reduced to 4 annas to widen membership); Home Rule League leaders like Tilak (d. Aug 1920) influence wanes, Gandhi's leadership rises |
| 1920 (Special Session) | Calcutta | Lala Lajpat Rai | Special session (Sept 1920) where the Non-Cooperation Programme was first proposed/discussed before being ratified at Nagpur (Dec 1920) |
| 1921 | Ahmedabad | Hakim Ajmal Khan | (C.R. Das was elected president but was in jail; Hakim Ajmal Khan officiated) |
| 1922 ★ | Gaya | Chittaranjan Das (C.R. Das) | Held after the sudden withdrawal of Non-Cooperation Movement (Chauri Chaura incident, Feb 1922); C.R. Das here proposed entering legislative councils, leading soon after to formation of the Swaraj Party (C.R. Das & Motilal Nehru, Jan 1923) as pro-changers split from no-changers |
| 1923 | Kakinada (Regular Session) | Maulana Muhammad Ali (Mohammad Ali Jauhar) | |
| 1923 (Special Session) | Delhi | Abul Kalam Azad | Special session; Azad became the youngest President of INC (around 35 years old) |
| 1924 ★★★ | Belgaum | Mahatma Gandhi | The only Congress session Gandhi ever presided over; focus on constructive programme (khadi, Hindu–Muslim unity, removal of untouchability) |
| 1925 ★★★ | Kanpur (Cawnpore) | Sarojini Naidu | First Indian woman President of INC (Annie Besant, 1917, was the first woman President overall but was British/Irish by birth) |
| 1926 | Gauhati (Guwahati) | S. Srinivasa Iyengar | |
| 1927 ★ | Madras | Dr. M.A. Ansari | Resolution on complete independence (Purna Swaraj) as the Congress goal first moved/discussed here (by younger leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose), though not formally adopted till 1929 Lahore; boycott of the Simon Commission (all-white commission) also resolved here, since the Commission arrived in India in 1928 |
| 1928 ★★ | Calcutta | Motilal Nehru | Nehru Report (drafted by a committee headed by Motilal Nehru) presented — India's first home-grown blueprint for a constitution, demanding Dominion Status; young leaders (Nehru, Bose) pushed for "Purna Swaraj" (complete independence) instead of Dominion Status — a one-year ultimatum to the British government was passed |
| 1929 ★★★ | Lahore | Jawaharlal Nehru | PURNA SWARAJ (Complete Independence) resolution adopted as the official goal of Congress; 26 January fixed to be celebrated every year as "Independence Day" / "Purna Swaraj Day" (first observed 26 Jan 1930); session held on the banks of the Ravi river; Tricolour hoisted at midnight of 31 Dec 1929 |
| 1930 | — (No regular annual session held) | — | Congress was engrossed in the Civil Disobedience Movement (Dandi/Salt March, launched 12 March 1930) and most leaders were in jail; the Lahore 1929 resolution/mandate for Purna Swaraj effectively continued to operate. (Note: some sources mention the Congress Working Committee carried on functions; no full annual session comparable to other years was convened — verify specifics if asked in unusual MCQ framing) |
| 1931 ★★★ | Karachi | Vallabhbhai Patel | Resolution on Fundamental Rights and National Economic Policy/Programme passed — a first Congress articulation of a rights-based and economic vision for free India (right to free speech, free press, franchise, free education, equality before law, protection of minority culture, and state control/ownership over key industries); session held soon after Gandhi–Irwin Pact (March 1931) and in the backdrop of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev's execution (23 March 1931) — Congress passed a resolution regretting the executions while dissociating from political violence |
| 1932 | Delhi | Amrit Ranchhoddas Sethna (R.D. Sethna) | Held amid intense government repression during the second phase of Civil Disobedience; Congress was declared illegal in 1932, session held under difficult/banned conditions (details of exact circumstances — verify precise particulars if question is unusually specific) |
| 1933 | Calcutta | Mrs. Nellie Sengupta | Presided in the continued climate of repression (many top leaders imprisoned); wife of J.M. Sengupta |
| 1934 | Bombay | Rajendra Prasad | Civil Disobedience Movement formally withdrawn/called off around this period; Congress began contesting elections under the 1935 Act framework debates |
| 1935 | — (No session / details uncertain) | — | Widely listed as a year with no regular Congress session; the Government of India Act, 1935 was under debate; please verify from a primary source table if an exam question specifically names 1935 |
| 1936 ★ | Lucknow | Jawaharlal Nehru (2nd time) | Debate on Congress ministries accepting office under the 1935 Act (provincial autonomy); Nehru pushed a socialist-leaning, anti-imperialist line |
| 1937 ★★ | Faizpur | Jawaharlal Nehru (3rd time) | First Congress session held in a rural/village area (a small village in Maharashtra, then Khandesh district); focus on peasants' problems, kisan issues |
| 1938 ★★ | Haripura | Subhas Chandra Bose | Held in Gujarat; grand reception ("Haripura Congress"); Bose was already known for radical, left-leaning, anti-imperialist views |
| 1939 ★★★ | Tripuri | Subhas Chandra Bose (2nd time) | Bose defeated Gandhi's nominee Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya in the presidential election, but faced resistance from the Gandhian old guard; Bose resigned and later formed the Forward Bloc (May 1939); Rajendra Prasad took over as Congress President for the remainder of the term |
| 1940 ★★ | Ramgarh | Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (2nd time as regular session president; became the longest-serving Congress President, holding office continuously ~1940–46) | Held in the context of the outbreak of World War II (Sept 1939) and Congress's stand of conditional support/individual civil disobedience under Gandhi if India's war effort was not accompanied by promises of freedom |
| 1941–1945 | No regular annual sessions in the usual pattern | Maulana Abul Kalam Azad continued as President throughout | Most senior leaders were imprisoned for much of this period (especially after the Quit India Movement, launched 8 Aug 1942, following the All India Congress Committee's Bombay session/resolution of Aug 1942); normal annual sessions were disrupted by the war and mass arrests |
| 1946 ★★ | Meerut | Acharya J.B. Kripalani | First post-war annual session; held amid the transfer-of-power negotiations (Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946); Kripalani was Congress President during the actual transfer of power in August 1947 (having taken over from Azad) |
| 1947–48 | (Independence and after) | J.B. Kripalani continued into 1947; Rajendra Prasad became President for the 1948 (Jaipur, 1948) period onward | India attained Independence on 15 August 1947; Congress transitioned from a national movement into a ruling political party; the INC as an organisation has continued to hold sessions after 1947 as a political party (Jaipur 1948, and onward), but these post-independence sessions are of lower exam priority for the "freedom struggle" GK category and are generally excluded from this rote list |
A note on gaps and uncertainty: For a handful of turn-of-the-century and early-1900s sessions (e.g., 1891, 1897, 1913, 1932), presidential names are drawn from widely circulated secondary compilations; spellings and a few names occasionally vary slightly across sources (British-era transliteration differences). Where NCERT/Spectrum give a definitive name, that name is used above; for the few cells marked "(verify)" or "(details uncertain)", cross-check against your primary textbook table before treating as exam-certain. The core "heavily tested" sessions (1885, 1907, 1916, 1917, 1920, 1925, 1927, 1929, 1931, 1938, 1939, 1940) are well-attested across all standard sources and can be memorized with full confidence.
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