Rise of Nationalism: Early Congress to the Morley-Minto Reforms (1885-1914)

Drafted with AI assistance and fact-checked on 28 October 2026; not yet read line by line by a human editor. Spotted a mistake? Tell us. Editorial standards & corrections

Roots of nationalism

Economic exploitation, the shared experience of foreign rule, Western education, the press and the rediscovery of India's past created a national consciousness among educated Indians. Lytton's unpopular measures, the Vernacular Press Act and the Arms Act (both 1878) and the lavish Delhi Durbar of 1877 held during a famine, and the white backlash against Ripon's Ilbert Bill (1883), which would have let Indian judges try Europeans, showed the need for organised all-India agitation.

Early political associations

The Landholders' Society (1838) of Dwarkanath Tagore is usually called the first political association; the British Indian Association followed in Calcutta in 1851. Others were the Bombay Association and the Madras Native Association (both 1852), Dadabhai Naoroji's East India Association in London (1866), the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha (1870) associated with M.G. Ranade, and the Madras Mahajan Sabha (1884). The most important forerunner of the Congress was the Indian Association of Calcutta (1876) of Surendranath Banerjea and Ananda Mohan Bose, which held all-India National Conferences in 1883 and 1885.

Founding of the Congress

The Indian National Congress first met at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, Bombay, on 28 December 1885 with 72 delegates under the presidency of W.C. Bonnerjee; A.O. Hume, a retired civil servant, was its organiser, and Dufferin was Viceroy. The safety valve theory claimed that Hume wanted a harmless outlet for educated Indians, but most historians see the Congress as the product of a political awakening that used Hume as a convenient organiser. Early sessions were Calcutta 1886 (Dadabhai Naoroji), Madras 1887 (Badruddin Tyabji, the first Muslim president) and Allahabad 1888 (George Yule, the first Englishman). Vande Mataram was first sung at a Congress session at Calcutta in 1896, by Rabindranath Tagore.

Moderates and Extremists

The Moderates, such as Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozeshah Mehta, Surendranath Banerjea and Gopal Krishna Gokhale, believed in British justice and used constitutional methods of prayer, petition and protest. They demanded larger legislative councils, simultaneous civil service examinations in India and England, lower military spending and the separation of the judiciary from the executive; the Indian Councils Act of 1892 was their modest gain and their economic critique of British rule their lasting contribution. The Extremists, led by Lal-Bal-Pal (Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal) and Aurobindo Ghosh, demanded swaraj and relied on self-reliance and mass action; Tilak edited Kesari and Mahratta and used the public Ganapati festival (from 1893) and the Shivaji festival to reach the people.

Partition of Bengal and Swadeshi

Lord Curzon divided Bengal into Bengal and a new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam with its capital at Dacca, effective from 16 October 1905. The stated reason was administrative convenience; the real aim was to weaken Bengali nationalism and divide Hindus and Muslims. The Swadeshi movement was formally proclaimed at the Calcutta Town Hall on 7 August 1905 with a boycott resolution, and 16 October was observed as a day of mourning, with Rakhi Bandhan and Tagore's Amar Sonar Bangla. Its methods were boycott of British goods, swadeshi industry, national education (Bengal National College, National Council of Education) and volunteer bodies such as Ashwini Kumar Dutt's Swadesh Bandhab Samiti at Barisal; in the south V.O. Chidambaram Pillai started the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company at Tuticorin. The Calcutta session of 1906 under Naoroji declared swaraj the goal and passed resolutions on swadeshi, boycott and national education. The partition was annulled at the Delhi Durbar of December 1911, where the transfer of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi was also announced.

Muslim League and the Surat split

A Muslim deputation led by the Aga Khan met Viceroy Minto at Simla on 1 October 1906 to ask for separate electorates. The All India Muslim League was founded at Dacca on 30 December 1906, with Nawab Salimullah of Dacca a leading founder and the Aga Khan its first president. In the Congress, Moderates and Extremists clashed over methods, and at the Surat session of December 1907, presided over by Rash Behari Ghosh, the party split. The Moderates kept control while the government crushed the Extremists; Tilak was sentenced in 1908 to six years in Mandalay jail.

Morley-Minto Reforms and the revolutionaries

The Indian Councils Act of 1909, named after Secretary of State John Morley and Viceroy Minto, enlarged the legislative councils, the central one from 16 to 60 members, allowed supplementary questions and resolutions on the budget, and introduced separate electorates for Muslims; Satyendra Prasanna Sinha became the first Indian in the Viceroy's Executive Council. A revolutionary stream ran alongside. The Chapekar brothers shot the plague commissioner Rand at Poona in 1897; the Anushilan Samiti (1902) and the Jugantar group worked in Bengal; Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki threw a bomb at Muzaffarpur in 1908, which led to Khudiram's hanging and the Alipore bomb case, in which Aurobindo was acquitted. Abroad, Shyamji Krishna Varma set up India House in London (1905), Madan Lal Dhingra shot Curzon Wyllie (1909), Rash Behari Bose planned the bomb attack on Viceroy Hardinge at Delhi (1912), and Lala Har Dayal and Sohan Singh Bhakna led the Ghadar Party (1913), headquartered at San Francisco.

Key facts

Usually called the first political association: Landholders' Society, Calcutta, 1838 (Dwarkanath Tagore). Indian Association, 1876 (Surendranath Banerjea and Ananda Mohan Bose).
INC founded 28 December 1885 at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, Bombay: 72 delegates, president W.C. Bonnerjee, organiser A.O. Hume, Viceroy Dufferin.
Early presidents: 1886 Calcutta - Dadabhai Naoroji; 1887 Madras - Badruddin Tyabji (first Muslim); 1888 Allahabad - George Yule (first Englishman).
Partition of Bengal: Curzon, effective 16 October 1905; Swadeshi proclaimed at Calcutta Town Hall on 7 August 1905; annulled at the Delhi Durbar, December 1911.
Calcutta session 1906 (Dadabhai Naoroji): swaraj declared the goal, with resolutions on swadeshi, boycott and national education. Surat 1907 (Rash Behari Ghosh): the split.
All India Muslim League: Dacca, 30 December 1906; Nawab Salimullah; first president Aga Khan; preceded by the Simla deputation of 1 October 1906.
Morley-Minto Reforms (Indian Councils Act 1909): separate electorates for Muslims; S.P. Sinha the first Indian in the Viceroy's Executive Council.
Lal-Bal-Pal: Lala Lajpat Rai (Punjab), Bal Gangadhar Tilak (Maharashtra), Bipin Chandra Pal (Bengal); Tilak's papers Kesari (Marathi) and Mahratta (English).
Revolutionaries: Chapekar brothers (Rand, 1897); Khudiram Bose (Muzaffarpur, 1908); Madan Lal Dhingra (Curzon Wyllie, 1909); Ghadar Party (1913, San Francisco).

Quick revision

Landholders' Society 1838; Indian Association 1876; INC 28 Dec 1885, Bombay, 72 delegates, W.C. Bonnerjee; Tyabji 1887; Moderates - prayer, petition, protest; Extremists - Lal-Bal-Pal; Bengal partition 16 Oct 1905 (Curzon); Swadeshi proclaimed 7 Aug 1905; Muslim League Dacca 30 Dec 1906; Surat split 1907; Morley-Minto 1909 separate electorates; partition annulled 1911; Ghadar Party 1913

Practise this topic

All 10 lessons on Modern Indian History and the Freedom Struggle