HPAS/Allied Mains 2022 Answer Writing Challenge Day 14: Target Question

Question: What goals and objectives did the Indian National Congress have when it first started? How successful was it in reaching the goals? Discuss. (120 words) 8 Marks

Answer: 

Introduction

A strong foundation had been laid in the late 1870s and early 1880s for the creation of an all-India organisation. A.O. Hume, a retired English civil officer, gave this concept its ultimate form when he rallied the top thinkers of the day and, with their assistance, planned the inaugural meeting of the Indian National Congress in December 1885.

Main Body

The Indian National Congress’ initial primary objectives were:

• To form a democratic, nationalist movement
• Politicize and educate individuals about politics;
• Identify the location of a movement’s headquarters or central location
• Encourage cordial relationships between nationalist political activists from various regions of the nation;
• Create and spread a nationalist anti-colonialist philosophy;
• to bring the people together around a single economic and political programme, formulate and propose popular demands to the government;
• cultivate and strengthen a sense of national unity among all people, regardless of religion, caste, or province;
• Promote and cultivate Indian nationalism with care.

Evaluation of INC’s early-stage performance

• They stood for civil rights of the people.
• They were successful in inspiring a widespread national awakening that all Indians shared common interests, the need to unite behind a common strategy to defeat a common foe, and most importantly, a sense of shared national identity.
• They provided political training and spread the word about contemporary concepts.
• They undermined colonial rule’s moral foundations by exposing its fundamentally exploitative nature.
• They did not base their political activity on sentimental whimsies or ideologies, but rather on cold, hard facts.
• They were able to prove the fundamental political truth—that India should be governed in the people’s best interests.
• They established a strong foundation for a more ardent, combative,mass-based national movement in the years that followed.

Reason for limited success of congress

• Even though they were unable to attract the people to them, the early nationalists made significant contributions to arousing national emotion.

The masses had a limited social base and took a passive role during the moderate period of the national movement

This was due to the early nationalists’ lack of political faith in the general populace; they believed that Indian society was divided and subdivided, and that the populace as a whole was stupid and held traditional beliefs.

• In Early years, INC was unable to expand both the democratic base and the range of its demands.

Conclusion:-

• It was often believed that Hume established the Congress with the hope that it would serve as a “safety valve” for the Indians’ mounting unhappiness. However, INC embodied the desire of politically aware Indians to create a national organisation to represent their political and economic aspirations.
• Historians point out that, given the circumstances, the early Congress leaders employed Hume as a “lightning conductor,” or as a catalyst to unite the patriotic forces, even if they did so by disguising him as a “safety valve.”