SESSION OF CONGRESS

1885 WC Banerjee Bombay

1886 Dadabhai Naoroji Calcutta
1887 Badruddin Tyabji Madras
1888 Geroge Yule Allahabad
1889 William Bombay
Wedderburn
1890 Pherozeshah Mehta Calcutta
1891 P. Anandacharlu Nagpur
1892 WC Banerjee Allahabad
1893 Dadabhai Naoroji Lahore
1894 Alfred Webb Madras
1895 Surendranath Poona
banerjee
1896 Rahimtulla M Calcutta
Sayani
1897 C Sankaran Nair Amraoti
1898 Anand Mohan Bose Madras
1899 RC Dutt Lucknow
1900 NG Chandavarkar Lahore
1901 DE Wacha Calcutta
1902 Surendranath Ahmedabad
Banerjee
1903 Lal Mohan Ghose Madras
1904 Henry Cotton Bombay
1905 GK Gokhle Benaras Congress condemned the partition of Bengal and the reactionary
policies of Curzon and decided to support the anti-partition and Swadeshi
Movement of Bengal
Militant nationalists like Lal-Bal-Pal wanted to take the movement
outside Bengal and go beyond the boycott of foreign goods to become a
full-fledged political mass struggle with the goal of attaining Swaraj. But
the Moderate leadership was not ready and just wanted to stick to the 3 P‟s
Moderate-Extremist differences came to the fore
As a final compromise, a relatively mild resolution condemning the
partition of Bengal and the reactionary policies of Curzon was passed
1906 Dadabhai Naoroji Calcutta “Self-government” or Swaraj was declared the goal of the INC.
Swaraj word was mentioned for the 1st time, but not clearly defined
Extremist Programme was at its peak
Extremist gave a call for passive resistance along with Swadeshi and
Boycott and a resolution supporting the programme of Swadeshi, boycott
and national education was passed.
Moderates saw in the council reforms an opportunity to realize their
dream of Indian participation in the administration
Aurobindo said, “Political freedom is the life-breath of a nation”
1907 Rash Bihari Ghose Surat Extremists wanted the session to be held in Nagpur with Tilak or Lala
Lajpat Rai as the President
Moderates wanted the session to be held at Surat, to exclude Tilak
from the presidency post, since a leader from the host province could not be
session president and pitched in for Rash Bihari Bose
Split in Congress. AC Majumdar wanted Tilak to be elected as
President
1908 Rash Bihari Ghose Madras
1909 MM Malviya Lahore
1910 William Allahabad
Wedderburn
1911 Bishan Narayan Dar Calcutta 1
 SESSION OF CONGRESS
1912 BG Narasinha Bankipur
Mudholkar
1913 Nawab Syed Karachi
Muhammad Bahadur
1914 Bhupendranath Nath Madras
Bose
1915 SP Sinha Bombay Tilak and Besant tried to unite the extremists and the Moderated but
met with limited success.
Though Besant failed to get the Congress approve her demand of
Home Rule Leagues, Congress did commit itself to a programme of
educationist propaganda and revival of local-level Congress committees
Finally Besant to threaten the Congress, that if it did not implement its
commitments, she would be forced to setup her own league.
1916 Ambika Charan Lucknow Moderates and Extremists reunited
Mazumdar Congress League pact was signed and a “19 point memorandum” was
submitted to British
AC Mazumdar during the session said, “…both wings of the Indian
Nationalist Party have come to realize the fact that united they stand, but
divided they fall”
1917 Annie Besant Calcutta
1918 MM Malviya Delhi
1918 Hasan Imam Bombay Considered the reform proposals ie. Act of 1919. It declared them
(Special) unsatisfactory.
Surendranath Banerjee left the Congress since he wanted to accept the
proposals and later founded Indian Liberal Federation
1919 Motilal Nehru Amritsar
1920 Lala Lajpat Rai Calcutta Congress approved the NCM till the Punjab and Khilafat
September wrongs were removed and swaraj was established.
(Special) A 7 point programme was launched which included boycott of
schools/colleges, law courts, Legislative Councils, foreign cloth, etc.
1920 Vijaya raghava Nagpur NCM was endorsed after being approved in the last session.
December chariar There was a transition from “constitutional means” to “all peaceful
and legitimate methods”
Hierarchy in the Congress was modified and membership fee reduced
to 4 annas
CWC of 15 members was constituted
Swaraj or self-government was adopted as the goal for the 1st time
Surendranath Banerjee who had left Congress in 1919, founded Indian
National Liberal Federation and played a minor role in politics henceforth
1921 Acting - Hakim Ahmedabad Talks b/w Gandhiji and Lord Reading broke down and
Ajmal Khan government crushed the movement heavily in May, 1921
Actual – CR Das, he Gandhiji was under immense pressure to start Civil
was in jail at that disobedience again and full authority was given to him to decide over the
time. issue
Finally, on Feb 01, 1922 Gandhiji threatened to launch Civil
Disobedience from Bardoli but the movement abruptly ended before it had
hardly began.
1922 Chitranjan Das Gaya Resolution was brought in to support Council entry but got
„Deshbandhu‟ defeated
CR Das and Motilal Nehru resigned from the Congress and in
1923, Congress Khilafat Swarajya Party was formed
In Nov 1923, the Swarajya party contested elections and won at
42 seats
1923 Maulana Kakinada
Mohammad Ali

2
 SESSION OF CONGRESS
1923 Maulana Abul Delhi
(Special) Kalam Azad
1924 Mahatma Gandhi Belgaum
1925 Sarojini Naidu Kanpur
1926 Srinivas Iyengar Guwahati
1927 MA Ansari Madras This session started a month after the appointment of Simon
December Commission
Decision to boycott Simon Commission, “at every stage and in every
form”
Resolution was passed which declared complete independence as the
goal of the Congress. Factions of Muslim league and Hindu Mahasabha
supported the Congress but Unionist party (Punjab) and Justice Party
decided not to boycott.
Muslim League as a gesture of solidarity even accepted the principle
of joint electorates, provided seats were reserved for the Muslims
December Motilal Nehru Calcutta Nehru Report is adopted by the Congress and it gives an ultimatum to
1928 the British to accept/reject the report by December 31 st, 1929, failing which
the Congress would launch Civil Disobedience
In March 1929, Gandhiji initiated the Foreign Cloth Boycott campaign
in Calcutta and was later arrested, to be released later only on personal
recognizance
December Jawaharlal Nehru Lahore Anti-Simon Commission agitation
1929 Nehru was appointed cum nominated, as 15/18 ministries voted
against him but Gandhiji backed him for Presidentship
British Silence on Ultimatum given by Calcutta session on the Nehru
report.
RTC was to be boycotted
Resolution of Complete Independence or Poorna Swaraj was adopted
here on 31st Dec 1929
Tri colour was hosted on 26th Jan 1930 and the day was celebrated as
Poorna Swaraj Day
The increasing communal violence and economic unrest in India on
account great depression and problems of unemployment.
Gandjiji gave an 11 point demand to the British with an ultimatum of
1 month (i.e. 31st Jan 1930)
1930 Jawaharlal nehru Lahore
1931 Vallabhbhai Patel Karachi Gandhi-Irwin pact (1931) was endorsed and decision made to
participate in RTC-2
Resolution was passed praising the role of the three revolutionaries
Resolution on Fundamental Rights and National Economic
Programme was passed
Spelt out for the first time what Swaraj would mean to masses
Gandhiji said, “Gandhi may die, but Gandhism will remain forever.”
1932 MM Malviya Delhi
1933 MM Malviya & Calcutta
Neelie Sengupta
1934 & Rajendra Prasad Bombay
1935
1936 Jawaharlal Nehru Lucknow Nehru advocated Socialism in his Presidential speech which he
regarded as “the only key to the solution of the world‟s problem and of
India‟s problem.
In this session as well as the next one, Congress decided to fight in the
Feb 1937 elections
1936 & Jawaharlal Nehru Faizpur Adoption of an agrarian programme by the Congress
1937 Nehru attacked Fascism and Congress condemned Japanese

3
 SESSION OF CONGRESS
aggression of China & Italian aggression of Abyssinia
Congress rejected the Govt. of India act 1935 and demanded
constituent assembly on adult suffrage
Congress decided to fight for Feb 1937 elections and postpone the
decision on office acceptance to the post-election phase
1938 Subash Chandra Haripura 51st session of the Congress
Bose Debates on international and national matters were done
1939 Subash Chandra Tripuri SC Bose defeated Pattabhi Sitaramayya (He established
Bose Andhra Bank in Machilipatnam in 1923)
This was regarded as a victory of the Left Wing, as the Right
Wing had solidly supported Sitaramayya. Even Gandhi regarded this defeat
as his own defeat.
Finally SC Bose resigned from the Presidentship of Congress
and floated Forward Bloc in 1940
Congress decided to take a more active part in the States
People‟s movements.
1940 Maulana Abul Ramgarh Decision was taken to strengthen Congress from within before
Kalam Azad launching Civil Disobedience movement as the organization was in
shambles lack of unity among the people; masses were tired, etc
Sep 1945 Bombay At its 1st post-war session, in Sep 1945 a strong resolution was
adopted declaring Congress support for the INA cause
April 1947 Acharya JB Kriplani Delhi At the session, Kriplani communicated to the Viceroy –
“…rather than have a battle, we shall give them their Pakistan provided you
allow Bengal and Punjab to be partitioned in a fair manner.” (addressed to
Mountbatten)
1948-49 Dr. Pittabhi Jaipur
Sitaraimayya