List of Presidents of Indian National Congress ( 1884-1998)

List of presidents of the partyMain article: Congress President


Name of President Life Span Year of Presidency Place of Conference

Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee 29 December 1844- 1906 1885 Bombay

Dadabhai Naoroji 4 September 1825- 1917 1886 Calcutta

Badruddin Tyabji 10 October 1844- 1906 1887 Madras

George Yule 1829–1892 1888 Allahabad

Sir William Wedderburn 1838–1918 1889 Bombay

Sir Pherozeshah Mehta 4 August 1845- 1915 1890 Calcutta

P. Anandacharlu August 1843- 1908 1891 Nagpur

Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee 29 December 1844- 1906 1892 Allahabad

Dadabhai Naoroji 4 September 1825- 1917 1893 Lahore

Alfred Webb 1834–1908 1894 Madras

Surendranath Banerjea 10 November 1848- 1925 1895 Pune

Rahimtulla M. Sayani 5 April 1847- 1902 1896 Calcutta

Sir C. Sankaran Nair 11 July 1857- 1934 1897 Amraoti

Ananda Mohan Bose 23 September 1847- 1906 1898 Madras

Romesh Chunder Dutt 13 August 1848- 1909 1899 Lucknow

Sir Narayan Ganesh Chandavarkar 2 December 1855- 1923 1900 Lahore

Sir Dinshaw Edulji Wacha 2 August 1844- 1936 1901 Calcutta

Surendranath Banerjea 10 November 1825- 1917 1902 Ahmedabad

Lalmohan Ghosh 1848–1909 1903 Madras

Sir Henry Cotton 1845–1915 1904 Bombay

Gopal Krishna Gokhale 9 May 1866- 1915 1905 Benares

Dadabhai Naoroji 4 September 1825- 1917 1906 Calcutta

Rashbihari Ghosh 23 December 1845- 1921 1907 Surat

Rashbihari Ghosh 23 December 1845- 1921 1908 Madras

Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya 25 December 1861- 1946 1909 Lahore

Sir William Wedderburn 1838–1918 1910 Allahabad

Pandit Bishan Narayan Dar 1864–1916 1911 Calcutta

Rao Bahadur Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar 1857–1921 1912 Bankipur

Nawab Syed Muhammad Bahadur ?- 1919 1913 Karachi

Bhupendra Nath Bose 1859–1924 1914 Madras

Lord Satyendra Prasanna Sinha March 1863- 1928 1915 Bombay

Ambica Charan Mazumdar 1850–1922 1916 Lucknow

Annie Besant 1 October 1847- 1933 1917 Calcutta

Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya 25 December 1861- 1946 1918 Delhi

Syed Hasan Imam 31 August 1871- 1933 1918 Bombay (Special Session)

Pandit Motilal Nehru 6 May 1861- 6 February 1931 1919 Amritsar

Lala Lajpat Rai 28 January 1865- 17 November 1928 1920 Calcutta (Special Session)

C. Vijayaraghavachariar 1852- 19 April 1944 1920 Nagpur

Hakim Ajmal Khan 1863- 29 December 1927 1921 Ahmedabad

Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das 5 November 1870- 16 June 1925 1922 Gaya

Maulana Mohammad Ali 10 December 1878- 4 January 1931 1923 Kakinada

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad 1888- 22 February 1958 1923 Delhi (Special Session)

Mahatma Gandhi 2 October 1869- 30 January 1948 1924 Belgaum

Sarojini Naidu 13 February 1879- 2 March 1949 1925 Kanpur

S. Srinivasa Iyengar September 11, 1874- 19 May 1941 1926 Gauhati

Dr. M A Ansari 25 December 1880- 10 May 1936 1927 Madras

Pandit Motilal Nehru 6 May 1861- 6 February 1931 1928 Calcutta

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru 14 November 1889- 27 May 1964 1929 & 30 Lahore

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel 31 October 1875- 15 December 1950 1931 Karachi

Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya 25 December 1861- 1946 1932 Delhi

Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya 25 December 1861- 1946 1933 Calcutta

Nellie Sengupta 1886–1973 1933 Calcutta

Dr. Rajendra Prasad 3 December 1884- 28 February 1963 1934 & 35 Bombay

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru 14 November 1889- 27 May 1964 1936 Lucknow

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru 14 November 1889- 27 May 1964 1936& 37 Faizpur

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose 23 January 1897- 18 August 1945? 1938 Haripura

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose 23 January 1897- 18 August 1945? 1939 Jabalpur

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad 1888- 22 February 1958 1940-46 Ramgarh

Acharya J.B. Kripalani 1888- 19 March 1982 1947 Delhi

Dr Pattabhi Sitaraimayya 24 December 1880- 17 December 1959 1948 & 49 Jaipur

Purushottam Das Tandon 1 August 1882- 1 July 1961 1950 Nasik

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru 14 November 1889- 27 May 1964 1951 & 52 Delhi

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru 14 November 1889- 27 May 1964 1953 Hyderabad

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru 14 November 1889- 27 May 1964 1954 Kalyani

U N Dhebar 21 September 1905- 1977 1955 Avadi

U N Dhebar 21 September 1905- 1977 1956 Amritsar

U N Dhebar 21 September 1905- 1977 1957 Indore

U N Dhebar 21 September 1905- 1977 1958 Gauhati

U N Dhebar 21 September 1905- 1977 1959 Nagpur

Indira Gandhi 19 November 1917- 31 October 1984 1959 Delhi

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy 19 May 1913- 1 June 1996 1960 Bangalore

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy 19 May 1913- 1 June 1996 1961 Bhavnagar

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy 19 May 1913- 1 June 1996 1962 & 63 Patna

K. Kamaraj 15 July 1903- 2 October 1975 1964 Bhubaneswar

K. Kamaraj 15 July 1903- 2 October 1975 1965 Durgapur

K. Kamaraj 15 July 1903- 2 October 1975 1966 & 67 Jaipur

S. Nijalingappa 10 December 1902- 9 August 2000 1968 Hyderabad

S. Nijalingappa 10 December 1902- 9 August 2000 1969 Faridabad

Jagjivan Ram 5 April 1908- 6 July 1986 1970 & 71 Bombay

Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma 19 August 1918- 26 December 1999 1972- 74 Calcutta

Dev Kant Baruah 22 February 1914- 1996 1975- 77 Chandigarh

Indira Gandhi 19 November 1917- 31 October 1984 1978- 83 Delhi

Indira Gandhi 19 November 1917- 31 October 1984 1983 -84 Calcutta

Rajiv Gandhi 20 August 1944- 21 May 1991 1985 -91 Bombay

P. V. Narasimha Rao 28 June 1921- 23 December 2004 1992 -96 Tirupati

Sitaram Kesri November 1919- 24 October 2000 1997 -98 Kolkata

Sonia Gandhi 9 December 1946- 1998–present Kolkata

In the early years the Congress had, however, no permanent organisation. " There were no paying members,no officials other than a general secretary, no central office, and no funds".Every Christmas a session was held in a different city with a different President, and it was managed by a local Reception Committee with locally collected funds. The Committee arranged the printing and distribution of the Congress proceedings after the session ended . Yet the Congress grew from strength to strength , acquiring a later significance in Indian political life and it was attended by a steadily growing number of delegates ;
72 in 1885, 434 in 1886, 607 in 1887, 1248 in 1888, and 1889 in 1889.

History of Armed Revolution -- for Indian Independence

Bengal Anushilan SamitiMain article: Anushilan Samiti
Established by Pramath Nath Mitra in Kolkata in 1902, Anushilan Samity became one of the most organized revolutionary associations , especially in the Eastern Bengal where the Dhaka Anushilan Samiti had several branches and carried out major activities . Jugantar was initially formed by an inner circle of the Kolkata Anushilan Samiti, like the Palmach of Haganah. In the 1920s, the Kolkata faction supported Gandhi in the Non-Cooperation Movement and many of the leaders held high posts in Congress.
[edit] JugantarBarin Ghosh was the main extremist leader. Along with 21 revolutionaries including Bagha Jatin, he started to collect arms and explosives and manufactured bombs. The headquarters of Jugantar was located at 93/a Baubazar Street, Kolkata.
Some senior members of the group were sent abroad for political and military training. One of them, Hemchandra Qanungo obtained his training in Paris. After returning to Kolkata he set up a combined religious school and bomb factory at a garden house in Maniktala suburb of Calcutta. However, the attempted murder of district Judge Kingsford of Muzaffarpur by Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki (30 April 1908) initiated a police investigation that led to the arrest of many of the revolutionaries.
Jatindranath Mukherjee (Bagha Jatin) in 1910Bagha Jatin was one of the top leaders in Jugantar. He was arrested, along with several other leaders, in connection with the Howrah conspiracy case. They were tried for treason, the charge being that they had incited various regiments of the army against the ruler.
Jugantar, along with other revolutionary groups, and aided by Indians abroad, planned an armed revolt against the British rulers during the First World War. This plan largely depended on the clandestine landing of German arms and ammunitions in the Indian coast. This plan came to be known as the Indo-German Plot. However, the planned revolt did not materialize.
After the First World War Jugantar supported Gandhi in the Non-Cooperation Movement and many of their leaders were in the Congress. Still, the group continued its revolutionary activities, a notable event being the Chittagong armoury raid.
 Bengal VolunteersMain article: Bengal Volunteers
Bengal Volunteers was a group formed by Subhash Chandra Bose during the Kolkata session of Indian National Congress in 1928 to help the organisation of the session. However, afterwards the group turned into a revolutionary group with notable revolutionaries like Benoy-Badal-Dinesh being its members
Punjab Hindustan Socialist Republican AssociationMain article: Hindustan Socialist Republican Association

Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) was established in October 1924 in Kanpur by revolutionaries like Ramprasad Bismil, Jogesh Chatterjee, Chandrashekhar Azad, Yogendra Shukla and Sachindranath Sanyal. The aim of the party was to organize armed revolution to end the colonial rule and establish in a Federal Republic of the United States of India. The Kakori train robbery was a notable act of mutiny by this group. The Kakori case led to the hanging of Ashfaqullah Khan, Ramprasad Bismil, Roshan Singh, Rajendra Lahiri. The Kakori case was a major setback for the group. However, the group was soon reorganized under the leadership of Chandrashekhar Azad and with members like Bhagat Singh, Bhagwati Charan Vohra and Sukhdev on 9 and 10 September 1928- and the group was now christened Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA).
In Lahore on 17 December 1928, Bhagat Singh, Azad and Rajguru assassinated Saunders, a police official involved in deadly lathi-charge on Lala Lajpat Rai. Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw a bomb inside the Central Legislative Assembly. The Assembly Bomb Case trial followed. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were hanged in 23 March 1931.
 South IndiaThe uprising against the British was evidenced at Halagali (Mudhol taluk of Bagalkot district). The prince of Mudhol, Ghorpade had accepted British overlordship. But the Bedas (hunters), a martial community, were seething with dissatisfaction under the new dispensation. The British proclaimed the Disarming Act of 1857 whereby men possessing fire arms had to register them and secure a license before November 10, 1857. Babaji Nimbalkar, a soldier thrown out of job from Satara Court, had advised these people not to loose their hereditary right to own arms.
One of the leaders of the Bedas, Jadgia was invited by the administrator at Mudhol and was persuaded to secure a license on November 11, though Jadgia had not asked for it. The administrator’s expectation that others would follow Jadgia was belied. So he sent his agents to Halagali on November 15, 20 and again on 21. But the entreaties of the agents did not succeed, and the agents sent on November 21 were attacked by Jadgia and Baalya, another leader and they were forced to return. Another agent sent on November 25 was not allowed to enter the village.
Meanwhile, the Bedas and other armed men from the neighbouring villages of Mantur, Boodni and Alagundi assembled at Halagali. The administrator reported the matter to Major Malcolm, the Commander at the nearby army headquarters, who sent Col. Seton Karr to Halagali on November 29.
The insurgents, numbering 500 did not allow the British to enter Halagali. There was a fight during the night. On November 30, Major Malcolm came with 29th Regiment from Bagalkot. They set fire to the village and many insurgents, including Babaji Nimbalkar died. The British, who had a bigger army and better arms arrested 290 insurgents; and of these 29 were tried and 11 were hanged at Mudhol on December 11, and six others, including Jadagia and Baalya were hanged at Halagali on December 14, 1857. No prince or jagirdar was involved in this uprising, but it was the common soldiers. Violent revolutionary activities never took firm root in South India. The only violent act attributed to the revolutionaries was the assassination of Collector of Tirunelveli (Tinnevelly). On June 17, 1911, the Collector of Tirunelveli, Robert Ashe was killed by R. Vanchi Aiyer, who subsequently committed suicide. This was the only instance of a political assassination by a revolutionary in South India.
 Outside India: India HouseMain article: India House
The India House was an informal Indian nationalist organisation that existed in London between 1905 and 1910. Initially begun by Shyamji Krishna Varma as a residence in Highgate, in NorthLondon, for Indian students to promote nationalist views and work, the house became a centre for intellectual political activities, and rapidly developed to be an organisation that became a meeting ground for radical nationalists among Indian students in Britain at the time, and of the most prominent centres for revolutionary Indian nationalism outside India. The Indian Sociologist published by the house was a noted platform for anti-colonial work and was banned in India as "seditious literature".
The India house was the beginnings of a number of noted Indian revolutionaries and nationalists, most famously V.D. Savarkar, as well as others of the like of V.N. Chatterjee, Lala Har Dayal, V.V.S. Iyer, M. P. T. Acharya who were, over the next decades, key members of revolutionary conspiracies in India as well as the founding fathers of Indian Communism. The house came to be the focus of Scotland Yard's work against Indian sedetionists, as well as the focus of work for the nascent Indian Political Intelligence Office. India house ceased to be potent organisation after its liquidation in the wake of the assassination of William Hutt Curzon Wyllie by a member of the India House by the name of Madan Lal Dhingra. This event marked the beginnings of London Police's crackdown on the activities of the house and a number of its activists and patrons, including Shyamji Krishna Varma and Bhikaji Cama moved to Europe from where they carried on works in support of Indian nationalism. Some Indian students, including Har Dayal, moved to the United States. The network that the House founded was key in the nationalist revolutionary conspiracy in India during World War I.
 Gadar PartyMain article: Gadar Party
Gadar party was a predominantly Sikh organization that started operating abroad in 1913 "with the view to do-away with the British rule in India".. The party collaborated with revolutionaries inside India and helped them get arms and ammunition. Lala Hardayal was a prominent leader of the party and pramotor of the Gadar newspaper. The Komagata Maru incident in 1914 inspired several thousand Indians residing in the USA to sell their businesses and rush home in order to participate in the anti-British activities in India. The party had active members in India, Mexico, Japan, China, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Malaya, Indo-China and Eastern and Southern Africa. During World War I, it was amongst the chief pariticipants of the Hindu German Conspiracy.
 Berlin CommitteeThe "Berlin committee for Indian independence" was established in 1915 by Virendra Nath Chattopadhya, including Bhupendra Nath Dutt & Lala Hardayal under "Zimmerman plan" with the full backing of German foreign office.
Their goal was mainly to achieve the following four objectives:
1: Mobilize Indian revolutionaries abroad. 2: Incite rebellion among Indian troops stationed abroad. 3: Send volunteers and arms to India. 4: Even to Organized an armed invasion of British India to liberate the country

History of armed revolution- Anushilan samity

Some notable Jugantar membersJatindranath Mukherjee alias Bagha Jatin (1879–1915)


Rash Behari Bose (1885–1945)

Taraknath Das

Nanigopal Sengupta

Hemendrakishore Acharya Chaudhuri (1881–1938)

Narendra Bhattacharya alias M.N. Roy (1887–1954)

Atulkrishna Ghosh

Amarendra Nath Chatterjee (1880–1957)

Jadugopal Mukherjee (1886–1976)

Bhavabhushan Mitra (1888–1965)

Bipin Behari Ganguli (1887–1954)

Purnachandra Das

Nolinikanta Kar

Bhupendra Kumar Datta(1894–1979)

Bhupati Majumdar (1890–1970)

Shibdas Ghosh (1923–1976)[13][14][15]



Shibdas GhoshNihar Mukherjee (1919–2010)[13]



Nihar MukherjeeSurendra Mohan Ghosh alias Madhu Ghosh (1893–1976)

Satish Chandra Mukherjee alias Swami Prajnanananda (1884–1921)

Manoranjan Gupta (1890–1976)

Arun Chandra Guha (1892 born)

Narendra Ghosh Chaudhuri (1894–1956)

Kiran Chandra Mukherjee (1883–1954)

Harikumar Chakrabarti (1882–1963)

Gopen Ray

Jibanlal Chatterjee

Debabrata Bose, later Swami Pragyananda

Ullaskar Dutta
Notable Members of Dhaka Anushilan SamitiMakhanlal Sen


Jogesh Chandra Chattopadhyay (1898–1969)

Narendra Mohan Sen (1887–1963)

Niranjan Sen Gupta

Pratul Chandra Ganguli (1884–1957)

Promode Das Gupta (1910–1985)

Rabindra Mohan Sen (1892–1971)

Sachindra Nath Sanyal (1892–1971)

Satish Chandra Pakrashi (1893–1931)

Troilokya Nath Chakrobarty (1889–1970)

History of Armed revolution - The Role of News Papers

News Papers in English and Bengali at the beginning of 20th century was propagating paptriotism and Nationalism amongst the people of India. Though the most of the papers were not revolutionary such as Amrita Bazar Patrika, Bengali, Sanjibani, Hitabadi, The Don and Don Socities Magazine, Bengali Weekly NabaShakti, Barishal Hitaishi, Chattogramer Jyoti etc. News papers were also published in different Districts. These news papers used to organise mass opinion against the British Rule.Apart from those papers there were evening paper published by Brahmabandha Upadhyay namely  " and Sandhya" (1904), English weekly published by Bipin Chandra Pal, namely "New India".
Naturally, Aurabindo felt the necessity of publishing a paper to rouse the sentiment of the people of Bengal. He published a Bengali weekly "Yugantar" from Calcutta, on 12th March, 1906. The logo of this paper was belief of two religions. Trishul and Chakra as a symbol for Hindu and Sword and Half moon as a symbol for Muslim. The aim of this paper was to propagate directly for open rebellion. This paper used to publicise  the ideals of Aurobindo in respect of religion, Complete Independence and construction of new India.

"Yugantar" directly propagated for open rebillion, It also pubilicised the opinion of Karl Marx in favour of workers movement and describe that to  protect the rights of the working class strike is a strong weapon.  
This "paper" circulated movements of the working Class in diffrent countries such as  America, Russia and other places which shows the belief in internationalism.
Moreover Aurobindo was also consciousness about the importance of the relation between the two religions, Hindus and Muslims. Yugantar explained the tradition of India as Unity in Diversity. Different people of Yehudi, Persian, Muslim, Christian etc  came and took shelter in India. The editorial board constituted with the following members,
Barindra Kumar Ghosh, Upendranath banerjee, Debabrata Basu and Bhupendra Nath Dutta. Among the writers there were Aurobindo Ghosh, Bipin Chandra Pal and Sakharam Ganesh Deoskar.
An English daily named "Bandemataram" came to light on 6th Aug 1906 published by Bipin Chandra Pal. At his request Aurobindo Ghosh became the Assistant editor of Bandemataram. This paper accelerated the movement against Division of Bengal and Swadeshi movement.     

History of Armed Revolution -- Aurobindo Ghosh

 The booklet, " Bhabani Mandir", reveals that Aurobindo organised the youth in all India perspective to make a success of the 'Bengal Partition' movement. In his plan one gets the reflection of the thoughts of Swami Vivekananda. Aurobindo stressed that the political freedom of a country is just like breathing of a human being.If this aim is not clear then all other things such as social reform, educational reform, expansion of Industry and moral upliftment of a nation becomes meaningless and hence on the point of Swaraj he was just opposite to the moderates. The demand of the moderates is to get  Dominion Status under the British umbrella  where as the revolutionary followers of Auronindo demanded complete independence.In the year 1906, Aurobindo explained the meaning of the term Swaraj as  complete Independence. The followers of Aurobindo took the path of sacrifice on the demand of complete independence.
Aurobindo explained to his followers another important issue i.e. the role of religion in a  multi-religious country like India. He quoted some sayings from Upanishad and explained in his own way  what should be the role of religion in India. In his explanation he took the help of Ramkrishna and Vivekananda.
Rabindranath had close relation with the revolutionaries of India and he attented several open meetings organised by them.    

History of Armed Revolution -- Anushilan Samity (contd-1)

Political activities began taking an organised form in Bengal at the beginning of the 20th century. By 1902, Calcutta had three societies working under the umbrella of Anushilan Samity, a society earlier founded by a Calcutta barrister by the name of Pramatha Mitra. These included Mitra's own group, another led by a Bengalee lady by the name of Sarala Devi, and a third one led by Aurobindo Ghosh- one of the strongest proponents of militant nationalism of the time. The Anushilan Samiti had Sri Aurobindo and Deshabandhu Chittaranjan Das as the vice-presidents, Suren Tagore the treasurer. Jatindra Nath Banerjee (Niralamba Swami), Jatindra Nath Mukherjee (Bagha Jatin), Bhupendra Nath Datta (Swami Vivekananda's brother), Barindra Ghosh younger brother of Aurobindo Ghose, were among other initial leaders. By 1906, the works of Aurobindo and his brother Barindra Ghosh allowed Anushilan Samity to spread through Bengal. The controversial 1905 partition of Bengal had a widespread political impact: it stimulated radical nationalist sentiments in the Bhadralok community in Bengal, and helped Anushilan acquire a support base amongst of educated, politically conscious and disaffected young in local youth societies of Bengal. The Dhaka branch of the Anushilan Samiti was formed by Pulin Behari Das, who was once a teacher in the Dhaka Government College and, later, a founding headmaster of 'National School' (Dhaka), along with his followers, in 1906. He, like Barindra Ghosh, believed in a highly centralised one-leader organisation. Under their leadership, respectively in Dhaka and elsewhere, in a spirit of a boastful showdown, Anushilan Samiti slowly adopted untimely terrorism programmes during the first decade of 20th century, with 1905 Partition of Bengal acting as a major catalyst. The Dhaka branch of Anushilan was led by Pulin Behari Das and spread branches through East Bengal and Assam. Aurobindo and Bipin Chandra Pal, a Bengali politician, began in 1907 the radical Bengali nationalist publication of Jugantar (Lit:Change), and its English counterpart Bande Mataram. Among the early recruits who emerged noted leaders where Rash Behari Bose, Jatindranath Mukherjee, and Jadugopal Mukherjee.

History of Armed Revolution -- Anushilan Samity

The revolutionary movement for Indian Independence, at first started as a stray incidence at the end of the 18th century but it gradually formed groups in different parts of India. Such Revolurionary groups existed in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Bengal, Orissa, Uttarpradesh, and Punjab. Some more groups were scattered around India since the beginning of 19th century.These groups and individuals had at theirsource of inspiration from Inside and outside India.

In Bengal three groups at different times and under different  leaderships were formed.

1. Anushilan Samity,

2. Jugantar, 

3. Bengal Volunteers.  

Anushilan Samiti (Bengali: অনুশীলন সমিতি "Self-Culture Association", meaning to follow the teachings of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee) was an armed anti-British organisation in Bengal and the principal secret revolutionary organisation operating in the region in the opening years of the 20st century.

Background :

Impact of European Secret Societies

The revolutionaries of India got inspiration from the secret organisation of diffeent countries of the world at the end of 19th century. Specially,

1. Mazzini and Garibaldi of Italy,

2. Nikolai Chernyshevisky of Russia,

Mazzini of Italy

Garibaldi of Italy