Study Guide · Chapter 3
The Moderate Phase (1885–1905)
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- The Indian National Congress (INC) was founded in December 1885 at Bombay by Allan Octavian Hume, with W.C. Bonnerjee as the first president; it met annually, drawing educated, English-speaking elites.
- Leading Moderates: Dadabhai Naoroji (three-time INC president; first Indian elected to the British House of Commons, 1892; author of the "Drain of Wealth" theory), Gopal Krishna Gokhale (founded the Servants of India Society, 1905; Gandhi's political mentor, whom Gandhi called his "political guru"), Pherozeshah Mehta, Surendranath Banerjee (founded the Indian Association, 1876), and M.G. Ranade.
- Methods: Constitutional agitation — petitions, resolutions, delegations to England, and public speeches — seeking incremental reforms (Indianisation of services, separation of judiciary from executive, reduction of military expenditure, and expanded legislative councils) within the British constitutional framework, generally expressing loyalty to the Crown while critiquing specific policies.
- Criticism: Later Extremists and subsequent historians criticised the Moderates for excessive faith in British fairness and for representing narrow elite interests, though the Moderates laid crucial organisational and ideological groundwork (especially economic critique of colonialism) for later phases.
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