Indian National Congress History & Sessions

Year

Location

President

Importance

28 Dec

1885

Bombay

W C Bonnerji

Secretary – A. O. Hume

Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, Bombay

72 delegates

Dadabbhai Naoroji gave the name of INC

27 Dec

1886

Calcutta

Dadabhai Naoroji -1

Merger of National Congress and National Conference

434 delegates

1887

Madras

Badruddin Tyabji

First Muslim President

1st Appeal to Muslims to join

1248 delegates

1888

Allahabad

George Yule

1st English president

1889

Bombay

William Wedderburn

2 times president, only Englishman

British Committee of INC was established in Britain.

1890

Calcutta

Pherozeshah Mehta

1891

Nagpur

P Ananda Charlu

1892

Allahabad

W C Bonnerji

1893

Lahore

Dadabhai Naoroji -2

1894

Madras

Alfred Webb

1895

Poona

Surendranath Banerjee -1

1896

Calcutta

Rahimtullah M. Sayani

National song ‘Vande Mataram’ sung for the first time by Rabindranath Tagore.

1897

Amravati

C Sankaran Nair

1898

Madras

Ananda Mohan Bose

1899

Lucknow

Romesh Chunder Dutt

Demand for permanent fixation of land revenue

1900

Lahore

N G Chandavarkar

1901

Calcutta

Dinshaw Wacha

1902

Ahmedabad

Surendranath Banerjee – 2

1903

Madras

Lal Mohan Ghosh

1904

Bombay

Sir Henry Cotton

1905

Benares

Gopal Krishna Gokhale

1906

Calcutta

Dadabhai Naoroji -3

‘Swaraj’ used for 1st time by president

1907

Surat

Rash Behari Ghosh -1

Party splits into extremists and moderates

1908

Madras

Rash Behari Ghosh -2

Constitution of INC drawn

Previous session continued

1909

Lahore

Madan Mohan Malaviya

Disapproval over separate electorates

1910

Allahabad

Sir William Wedderburn

1911

Calcutta

Bishan Narayan Das

Jana Gana Mana sung for the 1st time

1912

Bankipore, Patna

R N Mudholkar

1913

Karachi

Syed Mohammed Bahadur

1914

Madras

Bhupendra Nath Basu

1915

Bombay

Satyendra Prasanna Sinha

1916

Lucknow

Ambica Charan Mazumdar

Lucknow Pact singed

Joint session with the Muslim League

1917

Calcutta

Annie Besant

1st female president of INC

1918

Bombay (special)

Syed Hasan Imam

Resolution on Women’s voting rights by Sarala Devi Chaudhurani 

Dec

1918

Delhi

Madan Mohan Malaviya

2nd Split in Congress on the issue of Montagu declaration.

Resignation by S N Banerjee and some other 

1919

Amritsar

Motilal Nehru

New constitution of INC framed

1920

Calcutta (Special)

Lala Rajpat Rai

1920

Nagpur

C Vijaya Raghavachariar

Non-Cooperation resolution was moved by C. R. Das.

Change in the constitution of Congress.

Congress Working Committee (CWC) set up – 15 members.

1921

Ahmedabad

Hakim Ajmal Khan (Acting President )

C.R Das was in jail

1922

Gaya

C R Das

Formation of Swaraj Party

1923

Delhi (special)

Abul Kalam Azad

Azad was the youngest president

1923

Coconada

Maulana Muhammad Ali

1924

Belgaum

M K Gandhi

1925

Kanpur

Sarojini Naidu

First Indian woman president

1926

Guwahati

S Srinivasa Iyengar

1927

Madras

M A Ansari

Independence resolution was passed for 1st time

1928

Calcutta

Motilal Nehru

All India Youth Congress formed

1929

Lahore

Jawaharlal Nehru

19 Dec – Resolution for Poorna Swaraj

Civil disobedience movement for complete independence to be launched

26 Jan 1930 to be observed as ‘Independence Day’.

1930

No session

Jawaharlal Nehru

1931

Karachi

Vallabhbhai Patel

Resolution on fundamental rights

Protection of language, culture & script of minorities

Universal adult franchise

Free and compulsory education

National economic policy

Gandhi-Irwin Pact endorsed

Gandhiji nominated to represent INC in 2nd Round Table Conference

1932

Delhi

R Amritlal

Congress banned

1933

Calcutta

Malaviya was elected

But Mrs. Nellie Sengupta presided

Congress banned

1934

Bombay

Rajendra Prasad

Formation of Congress Socialist Party

1935

No session

Rajendra Prasad

1936

Lucknow

Jawaharlal Nehru

1937

Faizpur, Jalgaon, Maharashtra

Jawaharlal Nehru

50th Session of INC

1st session is to be held in a village

INC and All India Kisan Sabha joint session

Agrarian policy added to Congress manifesto

1938

Haripura, Bardoli,  Gujrat

Subhas Chandra Bose

National Planning Committee set up under Nehru

1939

Tripuri, MP

Subhas Chandra Bose

Bose had to resign since Gandhi supported Pattabhi Sitaramayya

Instead, Rajendra Prasad was appointed

1940 

Ramgarh

Abul Kalam Azad

1941-45

Abul Kalam Azad

No session because of arrest

1946

Meerut

J B Kripalani

Last session before independence

1948

Jaipur

Pattabhi Sitaramayya

1st session after independence