3. DETAILED NOTES ON HIGH-WEIGHTAGE SESSIONS

3. DETAILED NOTES ON HIGH-WEIGHTAGE SESSIONS

3.1 The First Session — Bombay, 1885

• President: Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee (W.C. Bonnerjee), a Calcutta-based barrister.
• Venue: Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, Bombay (the session was originally planned to be held at Poona but was shifted to Bombay because of a cholera outbreak in Poona).
• Number of delegates: 72 delegates from across India attended.
• Key figure behind founding: Allan Octavian Hume, a retired British civil servant, is traditionally credited as the prime mover behind the Indian National Congress's foundation, though the "safety valve theory" (that Hume floated Congress with the tacit blessing of Viceroy Lord Dufferin to provide a controlled outlet for growing Indian discontent, thereby averting a potential revolt) is a debated historiographical position — not all historians accept it uncritically, but it remains an important point for essay/interview-type questions.
• Viceroy at the time: Lord Dufferin.
• Character of the session/early Congress (the "Moderate phase," 1885–1905): Demands were moderate — greater Indian representation in legislative councils, simultaneous ICS examinations in India and England, reduction of military expenditure, separation of judiciary from executive. Methods used were "prayer, petition, protest" — constitutional agitation, not mass mobilisation.
• Exam trap: Some MCQs try to trick candidates into writing "Allan Octavian Hume" as the first President — remember Hume was the founder/organiser (General Secretary), not the President; W.C. Bonnerjee was the President.

3.2 The Surat Split — Surat, 1907

• President: Rash Behari Ghosh (though the session collapsed before formal business could be conducted smoothly).
• Background: By the mid-1900s, two ideological camps had emerged within Congress:
  • Moderates ("Naram Dal") — led by Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozeshah Mehta, Surendranath Banerjee — believed in constitutional methods, gradual reform, and loyalty to the British constitutional framework.
  • Extremists ("Garam Dal") — the "Lal-Bal-Pal" trio: Lala Lajpat Rai (Punjab), Bal Gangadhar Tilak (Maharashtra), Bipin Chandra Pal (Bengal) — pushed for Swaraj as an immediate goal, Swadeshi, boycott of foreign goods, national education, and more assertive/mass methods, catalysed heavily by the Partition of Bengal (1905) and the subsequent Swadeshi Movement.
• The flashpoint: At the 1907 session, a dispute arose over who should preside — the Extremists wanted Lala Lajpat Rai; Moderates backed Rash Behari Ghosh. The disagreement escalated; a chair was reportedly thrown, and the session broke up in chaos and disorder — this is remembered as the "Surat Split" or "Surat Congress Split."
• Aftermath: Extremists were effectively expelled/sidelined; only Moderates continued to function as "the Congress" for the next several years (1908 Madras session, presided again by Rash Behari Ghosh, was attended almost exclusively by Moderates, and a new INC constitution was drafted there). The two factions would not reunite until the 1916 Lucknow session.
• Exam trap: Do not confuse the Surat Split (1907, Moderate–Extremist) with the later 1907 event or with the 1920s "pro-changer vs no-changer" split (Swaraj Party formation, 1922–23) — these are three separate splits/episodes in Congress history at different times over different issues.

3.3 The Lucknow Session — 1916 (Lucknow Pact)

• President: Ambika Charan Majumdar.
• Two landmark achievements in one session:
  1. Reunion of Moderates and Extremists — the two factions that had split at Surat in 1907 came back together at Lucknow in 1916, restoring organisational unity to Congress. Tilak (recently released and readmitted) and Annie Besant were both present and active.
  2. The Lucknow Pact — a historic agreement between the Indian National Congress and the All-India Muslim League, under which both organisations agreed on a joint scheme for constitutional reforms to present to the British government, and Congress accepted the principle of separate electorates for Muslims (a concession that would have long-term, deeply consequential effects on Indian constitutional and communal politics). Mohammad Ali Jinnah — at this time still called an "Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity" — played a central role in engineering the Pact from the League's side.
• Significance: This was the high point of Hindu–Muslim political cooperation in the pre-Gandhian phase of the freedom struggle, and it is frequently tested both as a Congress-session fact and as a Congress–League relations fact.

3.4 Calcutta, 1917 — Annie Besant, First Woman President

• President: Annie Besant — a British-born theosophist, social reformer, and founder of the Home Rule League (along with Tilak, who ran a parallel Home Rule League).
• Significance: She became the first woman to preside over the Indian National Congress. Note carefully for exams: she was not Indian by birth (she was Irish/British); the first Indian-born woman President came later, in 1925 (Sarojini Naidu). This year/place/president combination and the "first woman president" fact are both extremely high-frequency MCQ items.
• Context: The session took place during the Home Rule Movement (1916–1918), a period of agitation demanding self-government (Home Rule) modelled on Ireland's Home Rule demand, spearheaded jointly by Besant and Tilak's separate Home Rule Leagues.

3.5 Nagpur, 1920 — Non-Cooperation Movement and New Constitution

• President: C. Vijayaraghavachariar.
• Two major developments:
  1. Formal adoption of the Non-Cooperation Movement — though the idea/programme had already been floated and provisionally approved at a special Congress session at Calcutta in September 1920 (presided over by Lala Lajpat Rai), it was formally ratified as official Congress policy at the regular annual session at Nagpur in December 1920. This marks Gandhi's emergence as the undisputed leader steering the mass phase of the freedom struggle, with the movement combining the Khilafat cause (defending the Ottoman Caliph, important to Indian Muslims post-WWI) with the nationalist cause — a rare moment of Hindu-Muslim united mass mobilisation.
  2. New Constitution of the Indian National Congress adopted — this reorganised Congress into a genuinely mass-based political organisation: provincial Congress committees were reorganised on a linguistic basis, a hierarchical structure down to village/taluka level was created, and the membership fee was drastically reduced (to four annas) to make Congress membership accessible to the common people, not just the educated elite. This is considered the moment Congress transformed from an elite pressure group into a genuine mass movement organisation.
• Exam trap: Note the two-session sequence — special session Calcutta (Sept 1920, Lajpat Rai) proposes Non-Cooperation → regular annual session Nagpur (Dec 1920, Vijayaraghavachariar) ratifies/adopts it formally. Questions sometimes test which session gets credit for "adoption" — the standard/textbook answer for formal adoption is Nagpur, 1920.

3.6 Kanpur, 1925 — Sarojini Naidu, First Indian Woman President

• President: Sarojini Naidu — poet ("the Nightingale of India"), and a leading freedom fighter.
• Significance: First Indian-born woman to preside over the INC (distinct from Annie Besant in 1917, who was the first woman President overall but was of British/Irish origin). This session, therefore, is the answer whenever a question specifically asks for "first Indian woman President of Congress."
• Sarojini Naidu later also became the first woman Governor of an Indian state (United Provinces, post-Independence) — a fact sometimes cross-tested alongside this one.

3.7 Madras, 1927 & Calcutta, 1928 — Toward Purna Swaraj

• 1927 Madras (President: M.A. Ansari): The demand for complete independence (Purna Swaraj) as opposed to Dominion Status was first raised/moved on the floor of Congress here, chiefly by younger radical leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose, though it was not adopted as official policy at this stage. Congress also resolved to boycott the Simon Commission — an all-British commission appointed in 1927 (arrived in India Feb 1928) to review constitutional progress, notorious for having no Indian members, prompting the famous "Simon Go Back" protests.
• 1928 Calcutta (President: Motilal Nehru): The Nehru Report — prepared by a committee chaired by Motilal Nehru (with members including Tej Bahadur Sapru, and with a young Jawaharlal Nehru involved) — was presented. It was independent India's first significant home-grown attempt at drafting a constitutional framework, and it recommended Dominion Status (self-government within the British Empire/Commonwealth, similar to Canada/Australia), rejecting separate electorates in favour of joint electorates with reserved seats. This report was seen as too moderate by younger leaders (Nehru, Bose) who wanted complete independence outright; a compromise one-year ultimatum was given to the British government to grant Dominion Status, failing which Congress would launch a movement for complete independence.

3.8 Lahore, 1929 — Purna Swaraj Resolution ★★★ (Very High Priority)

• President: Jawaharlal Nehru (his first term as Congress President; a milestone in itself given his relative youth and the symbolic passing of leadership toward the younger generation, engineered partly by Gandhi's backing).
• The historic resolution: Since the British government's response to the Nehru Report's one-year ultimatum was seen as inadequate (Lord Irwin's October 1929 statement on Dominion Status was viewed as vague and unsatisfactory), the Lahore session formally adopted "Purna Swaraj" (Complete Independence) as the official goal of the Indian National Congress, abandoning the earlier, more moderate demand for Dominion Status.
• 26 January fixed as "Independence Day": The session resolved that 26 January would be observed every year as "Purna Swaraj Day" / "Independence Day" across the country, with citizens taking a pledge for complete independence. This was first observed on 26 January 1930, and — significantly — this same date was later chosen (post-Independence) for the commencement of the Constitution of India on 26 January 1950, precisely to honour this 1929/1930 pledge.
• Iconic imagery: At midnight on 31 December 1929, the Tricolour flag was hoisted on the banks of the river Ravi in Lahore, an event etched into nationalist iconography.
• Consequence: This resolution directly set the stage for the launch of the Civil Disobedience Movement, beginning with the Dandi March / Salt Satyagraha (12 March – 6 April 1930).

3.9 Karachi, 1931 — Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy Resolution

• President: Vallabhbhai Patel.
• Context: Held shortly after the Gandhi–Irwin Pact (5 March 1931), under which Gandhi agreed to suspend the Civil Disobedience Movement and attend the Second Round Table Conference in London, in exchange for concessions such as release of political prisoners. The session also occurred in the shadow of the execution of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev on 23 March 1931 — Congress at Karachi passed a resolution expressing regret/admiration for their courage and sacrifice while formally dissociating the Congress from methods of political violence, reflecting the tension within the nationalist camp between Gandhian non-violence and revolutionary militancy.
• The Fundamental Rights and National Economic Programme Resolution: This is the session's chief substantive legacy — for the first time, Congress articulated a detailed vision of the rights and economic order that would prevail in a free India, including:
  • Fundamental civil rights: freedom of speech, press, association; equality before law regardless of caste, creed, or sex;
  • Universal adult franchise;
  • Free and compulsory primary education;
  • Protection of the culture, language, and script of minorities;
  • Substantial reduction in rent/revenue burdens on peasants;
  • Nationalisation/state control of key industries and services (railways, shipping, mines, banking, key industries).
  • This resolution is regarded by historians as a direct ideological precursor to the Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles chapters of the Indian Constitution (1950), making it a favourite cross-linking question in exams ("Which Congress session's resolution most directly foreshadowed the Fundamental Rights of the Indian Constitution?" → Karachi, 1931).

3.10 Haripura (1938) and Tripuri (1939) — The Subhas Chandra Bose Sessions

• 1938 Haripura, President: Subhas Chandra Bose (1st term). Bose, already a prominent left-wing leader with a base especially in Bengal, was elected Congress President; the session saw grand celebrations and is remembered for Bose's efforts to push a more radical, planning-oriented, industrialisation-focused economic vision (he would go on to set up the National Planning Committee under Nehru's chairmanship in 1938 as a Bose initiative).
• 1939 Tripuri, President: Subhas Chandra Bose (2nd term) — the most politically dramatic Congress presidential election in the pre-independence period.
  • Gandhi backed a rival candidate, Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya, for the presidency, largely due to growing ideological differences with Bose (Bose favoured a more militant, less compromising anti-imperialist stance, including openness to seeking external help against Britain in the event of war).
  • Bose defeated Sitaramayya in the presidential election — a rare and stinging setback for Gandhi's preferred candidate. Gandhi publicly stated that "Pattabhi's defeat is more mine than his."
  • Despite winning, Bose found himself unable to function effectively as President because the Gandhian old guard in the Congress Working Committee refused to cooperate with him; facing a near-total boycott by senior leaders, Bose resigned from the Congress presidency in April 1939.
  • Bose subsequently formed the Forward Bloc (May 1939), a left-wing group within (and soon effectively outside) the Congress fold, positioning himself as leader of a more radical, uncompromising anti-British current.
  • Dr. Rajendra Prasad took over as Congress President to complete the remainder of the term after Bose's resignation.
  • This episode is one of the most-tested "sequence of events" items — exams often ask you to arrange in order: Bose elected → Gandhi's displeasure → Bose resigns → Forward Bloc formed → Rajendra Prasad takes over.

3.11 Ramgarh, 1940 — Wartime Congress

• President: Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (this session marks the start of Azad's very long unbroken tenure as Congress President, which continued through 1946 due to the disruption of normal annual sessions during World War II and the mass arrests following the Quit India Movement — making Azad the longest continuously serving President of Congress, roughly 1940–1946).
• Context: Held against the backdrop of the outbreak of World War II (September 1939). Congress ministries in the provinces had already resigned in protest (Oct-Nov 1939) against India being dragged into the war without consultation. Gandhi's position of "individual civil disobedience" (a controlled, symbolic form of protest by selected individuals, starting with Vinoba Bhave as the first Satyagrahi in October 1940) rather than a mass movement, was the operative strategy discussed around this period, given the delicate international situation.

3.12 Meerut, 1946 — On the Eve of Independence

• President: Acharya J.B. Kripalani.
• Context: This was the first regular annual Congress session held after the end of World War II and the return of Congress to full political activity, amid the Cabinet Mission Plan (1946) negotiations for the transfer of power, the Interim Government formation, and rapidly intensifying communal tensions (the Direct Action Day, 16 August 1946, called by the Muslim League, occurred in this very year). J.B. Kripalani was Congress President through the actual moment of Independence on 15 August 1947.
• After 1947, Congress continued as the ruling political party of independent India; its post-independence sessions (Jaipur 1948 onward, with Rajendra Prasad, Purushottam Das Tandon, and later leaders as Presidents) fall outside the "freedom struggle" GK category typically tested, though a well-prepared candidate should know that the transition from "national movement" to "ruling party" occurred smoothly around 1947–48 without any organisational rupture.

---

3.13 Benares, 1905 — Partition of Bengal Backdrop

• President: Gopal Krishna Gokhale, the moderate leader whom Gandhi later described as his political guru ("Mera Rajneetik Guru").
• Context: Lord Curzon's Partition of Bengal, announced in July 1905 and implemented on 16 October 1905, split the province of Bengal (then including present-day Bangladesh, West Bengal, Bihar, and parts of Odisha and Assam) ostensibly on administrative grounds, but widely seen by Indians as a deliberate "divide and rule" tactic to weaken the growing nationalist and Hindu-Muslim unity in Bengal, the nerve-centre of the freedom movement at that time.
• Congress response at Benares: The session strongly condemned the Partition and formally supported the twin strategies that had emerged spontaneously in Bengal — Swadeshi (use of Indian-made goods, boycott of British/foreign goods, especially British textiles) and Boycott. This is the first time Congress as a national body lent full institutional support to a mass economic-cum-political agitation of this scale, marking a shift from the earlier "prayer-petition" style of politics.
• Wider Swadeshi Movement legacy: The Swadeshi Movement (1905–1908) saw the establishment of Swadeshi enterprises, National Council of Education, and is often cited as a direct precursor/rehearsal for the much larger Gandhian mass movements of the 1920s-40s.

3.14 Amritsar, 1919 — After Jallianwala Bagh

• President: Motilal Nehru.
• Context: This session was held in December 1919, only about eight months after the horrific Jallianwala Bagh massacre (13 April 1919, Amritsar), where General Reginald Dyer ordered troops to fire on an unarmed crowd gathered at Jallianwala Bagh in violation of a curfew/assembly ban, killing hundreds (official British figures understated the toll; Indian estimates run much higher).
• Congress resolutions: The session strongly condemned both the massacre and the wider repressive Rowlatt Act (1919), which had permitted detention without trial and triggered the protests that led to Jallianwala Bagh in the first place. The Hunter Commission report on the massacre (which many Indians felt let Dyer off too lightly) was also criticized.
• Significance for Gandhi's rise: Although Gandhi was not yet Congress President, his stature within the movement grew enormously in this period; the Amritsar session is often marked in textbooks as the point at which Gandhi began to visibly steer Congress strategy toward mass civil resistance, setting up the Non-Cooperation Movement the following year.
• Note: this is also the session venue — Amritsar — chosen precisely because of its association with the massacre, giving the session strong symbolic weight.

3.15 Gaya, 1922 — Birth of the Swaraj Party (Aftermath)

• President: Chittaranjan Das (C.R. Das).
• Context: The Non-Cooperation Movement had been abruptly called off by Gandhi in February 1922 after the Chauri Chaura incident (Gorakhpur district, UP), where an agitated mob set fire to a police station, killing more than 20 policemen — Gandhi felt this violence violated the core non-violent (ahimsa) principle underlying the movement and unilaterally suspended it, a decision that disappointed and even angered many younger and more radical Congressmen at the time.
• The "pro-changer" vs "no-changer" debate: At Gaya, C.R. Das (supported by Motilal Nehru) argued for a change in strategy — entering the legislative councils created under the Montford Reforms (1919) and obstructing government business from within ("responsive cooperation" through obstruction), rather than boycotting them altogether as the Non-Cooperation programme had prescribed. This "pro-changer" position was opposed by "no-changers" like Rajendra Prasad, Vallabhbhai Patel, and C. Rajagopalachari, who wanted to continue the constructive/boycott programme outside legislatures.
• Outcome: Das failed to carry the Gaya session fully behind his position and resigned as Congress President shortly after; he and Motilal Nehru then formed the Swaraj Party (also called the Congress-Khilafat Swarajya Party) in January 1923 as a distinct group that would contest council elections while remaining nominally within the Congress fold — this is a separate, later episode from the 1907 Surat split, and exams frequently test the distinction between the two.

3.16 Lucknow (1936) and Faizpur (1937) — Nehru's Consecutive Terms and the Rural Turn

• 1936 Lucknow (President: Jawaharlal Nehru, 2nd term): This session took place while Congress was deciding whether to contest and accept ministerial office in the provinces under the Government of India Act, 1935 (which introduced provincial autonomy). Nehru, ideologically closer to socialism at this stage (influenced by his European travels and readings of Marxism, though never doctrinaire), used his presidential platform to push a strongly anti-imperialist, class-conscious line, even as the Congress organisation as a whole moved toward participating in the 1937 provincial elections and later forming ministries in several provinces.
• 1937 Faizpur (President: Jawaharlal Nehru, 3rd term): Notable chiefly as the first Congress session ever held in a village rather than a city — Faizpur was then a small village in the Khandesh region of the Bombay Presidency (in present-day Maharashtra). This was a deliberate symbolic and organisational choice, reflecting Congress's deepening engagement with the peasantry and rural India; the session passed significant resolutions on agrarian/kisan issues, land revenue, and the condition of peasants, aligning with the contemporary rise of the All India Kisan Sabha (founded 1936, with Swami Sahajanand Saraswati as a key figure).

---