Asoka founded the most powerful secret society on earth: that of the Nine Unknown Men. What can have been the aim of these men?
Indian National Congress
Events like the passage of the Vernacular Press Act in 1878 and the Ilbert
Bill of 1882, as well as the reduction of the age limit for the Civil Services
Exams in 1876 resulted in a wave of opposition from the middle class Indians.
Consequently some of them came together and formed a number of small political
parties that came out in the streets for protests and rallies. The British
foresaw the situation resulting in another rebellion on the pattern of the War
of Independence of 1857. To avoid such a situation, the British decided to
provide an outlet to the local people where they could discuss their political
problems. In order to achieve this goal, Allan Octavian Hume, a retired British
civil servant, had a series of meetings with Lord Dufferin, the Viceroy. He also
visited England and met people like John Bright, Sir James Caird, Lord Ripon and
some members of the British Parliament. Hume also had the support of a large
number of Englishmen in India, including Sir William Wedderbun, George Yule and
Charles Bradlaugh.
On his return from Britain, Hume consulted the local Indian leaders and
started working towards the establishment of an Indian political organization.
He invited the convention of the Indian National Union, an organization he had
already formed in 1884, to Bombay in December 1885. Seventy delegates, most of
whom were lawyers, educationalists and journalists, attended the convention in
which the Indian National Congress was established. This first session of
Congress was presided over by Womesh Chandra Banerjee and he was also elected as
the first president of the organization.
To begin with, Congress acted as a 'Kings Party'. Its early aims and
objectives were:
- To seek the cooperation of all the Indians in its efforts.
- Eradicate the concepts of race, creed and provincial prejudices and try to
form national unity.
- Discuss and solve the social problems of the country.
- To request the government, give more share to the locals in administrative
affairs.
As time went by, the Congress changed its stance and apparently became the
biggest opposition to the British government.
Muslims primarily opposed the creation of Congress and refused to participate
in its activities. Out of the 70 delegates who attended the opening session of
the Congress, only two were Muslims. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, who was invited to
attend the Bombay session, refused the offer. He also urged the Muslims to
abstain from the Congress activities and predicted that the party would
eventually become a Hindu party and would only look after the interests of the
Hindus. Syed Ameer Ali, another important Muslim figure of the era, also refused
to join Indian National Congress.
