The establishment of the Indian National Congress marked the first organized expression of the national movement on an all-India level. Its foundation was laid by Allan Octavian Hume, who is also known as the ‘Father of the Indian National Congress’. However, the founding of the Congress by Hume in December 1885 was not an unexpected event. In fact, political consciousness had begun to grow among educated Indians as early as the 1860s and 1870s. The creation of the Congress was a symbol of this rising national awareness.
When the East India Association was formed in London in 1866, it was hoped that it would open branches in Bombay and Calcutta. In 1877, the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha also encouraged representatives from Bombay and Calcutta to work together. In 1883, K.T. Telang even visited Calcutta to establish greater coordination between the two cities. Various local organizations in the three presidency towns (Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta) — such as the Calcutta Indian Association, British Indian Association, National Mohammedan Association, and Indian Union — were trying to call a national conference.
The First Indian National Conference (1883)
The special credit for organizing the first ‘National Conference’ goes to the Calcutta Indian Association and its leader Surendranath Banerjee. On 29–30 December 1883, the Association organized the First Indian National Conference at Albert Hall in Calcutta under the chairmanship of the renowned educationist Ramtanu Lahiri. Around 100 delegates from major Indian cities participated.
Key resolutions passed included:
- Starting Civil Service examinations in India itself
- Raising the maximum age limit for competitors to 22 years
- Establishing representative legislative assemblies in India
- Repealing the Arms Act
The conference also expressed regret over the compromise on the Ilbert Bill and emphasized the need for a ‘National Fund’. This was the first attempt to create an all-India national organization.
Surendranath Banerjee and Growing Demand for a National Body
By 1885, intellectually active Indian leaders were eager to establish an all-India organization to fight for national interests. After the first conference, Surendranath Banerjee toured the entire country. As a result, three major Calcutta organizations — the Indian Association, British Indian Association, and National Mohammedan Association — jointly organized the Second National Conference on 25–27 December 1885. Nearly 900 delegates from Bengal, Bombay, Bihar, Assam, Allahabad, Banaras, and Meerut attended.
Prominent attendees included Rao Saheb Vishwanath Mandlik, Maharaja of Darbhanga, Nepalese Ambassador H.K.S. Karn, I.C.S. Amir Ali, Sir Gurudas Banerjee, Kalimohan Das, Mahendrachandra Chaudhuri, Pyari Mohan Mukherjee, Dr. Trailokyanath Mitra, Surendranath Banerjee, Kalicharan Banerjee, and others. Anand Mohan Bose of the Indian Association was on a political tour of Assam at the time.
Foundation of the Indian National Congress (1885)
In late 1884, A.O. Hume established the Indian National Union to connect leading educated Indian leaders across the country. In March 1885, the Union decided to hold a conference of prominent English-speaking leaders from Bengal, Bombay, and Madras provinces in Poona during Christmas. Due to a cholera outbreak in Poona, the venue was shifted to Bombay.
On the very day the Second National Conference ended in Calcutta, delegates from different provinces began gathering at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Bombay for Hume’s Indian National Union conference. On 28 December 1885, on Dadabhai Naoroji’s suggestion, the name was changed from ‘Indian National Union’ to ‘Indian National Congress’. This became the first planned expression of nationalism on an all-India scale.
Since A.O. Hume played a pivotal role in giving concrete shape to this all-India institution, he is regarded as the founder of the Congress. Surendranath Banerjee and Anand Mohan Bose could not attend the founding session because they were occupied with the Second National Conference.
The ‘Safety Valve’ Myth Surrounding Congress Foundation
Hume’s prominent participation in the first session gave birth to the ‘Safety Valve’ myth about the Congress’s origin. According to this myth, the Indian National Congress was created by Hume and his associates on British government instructions to channel growing Indian discontent and strengthen British rule in India.
This myth was widely accepted by historians for a long time, but recent research has thoroughly debunked it.
The safety valve story originated from William Wedderburn’s 1913 biography of Hume. Wedderburn, a former civil servant, claimed that in 1878 Hume saw seven volumes of secret intelligence reports revealing widespread discontent among lower classes and conspiracies to overthrow British rule by force. Alarmed, Hume met Lord Dufferin, who suggested creating a political organization of educated Indians so the government could understand public sentiment and provide a “safe, harmless, peaceful, and constitutional outlet” — a safety valve — for growing discontent.
Early nationalist historians believed this theory, imperialist historians used it to discredit Congress, and Marxist historians like R.P. Dutt developed a conspiracy theory portraying Congress as a pre-planned British creation. Even Lala Lajpat Rai in 1916 and RSS Sarsanghchalak M.S. Golwalkar in 1939 used the safety valve idea to question Congress’s nationalist credentials.
Complete Debunking of the Safety Valve Theory
The safety valve theory was proven false in the 1950s for the following reasons:
1. None of the alleged seven volumes of secret reports exist in any archive in India or London.
2. Given the intelligence structure of the 1870s, producing so many volumes was practically impossible.
3. Apart from Wedderburn’s biography, there is no contemporary evidence of such reports. Even Wedderburn mentions they were allegedly given to Hume by religious leaders, not official sources.
4. Lord Dufferin’s private papers (made public in the late 1950s) clearly show he never sponsored Hume or Congress. Though he met Hume in Shimla in May 1885, he dismissed the idea and warned the Bombay Governor to be cautious of the proposed meeting, suspecting it might start something like Ireland’s Home Rule movement.
Shortly after its formation, Viceroy Dufferin openly criticized Congress, which completely contradicts the safety valve narrative.
Thus, the story of the seven secret reports is fabricated. Wedderburn probably invented or exaggerated it to portray Hume as a patriotic Englishman saving the British Raj from disaster.
It is high time the discredited ‘Safety Valve Theory’ is finally laid to rest.
