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Santosh Kumar, Lovely Professional University
Unit 9: Establishment of the Indian National Congress: Home Rule Movement, Moderates and Extremists

Unit 9: Establishment of the Indian National Congress: Notes
Home Rule Movement, Moderates and Extremists

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
9.1 Establishment of Congress, Factors Responsible for its Foundations and Theories of its Origin
9.2 Home Rule Movement and Its Fallout
9.3 Moderates and Extremists
9.4 Summary
9.5 Key-Words
9.6 Review Questions
9.7 Further Readings

Objectives

After studying this unit students will be able to:
• Explain the theory and factors responsible for the establishment of the Congress
• Analyse Home Rule Movement
• Understand the Concept of Moderates and Extremists

Introduction

Indian National Congress was founded in December 1885 by seventy-two political workers. It was
the first organized expression of Indian nationalism on an all-India scale. A.O. Hume, a retired
English ICS officer, played an important role in its formation. But why was it founded by these
seventy-two men and why at that time?
A powerful and long-lasting myth, the myth of ‘the safety valve,’ has arisen around this question.
Generations of students and political activists have been fed on this myth. But despite widespread
popular belief, this myth has little basis in historical fact.
The myth is that the Indian National Congress was started by A.O. Hume and others under the
official direction, guidance and advice of no less a person than Lord Dufferin, the Viceroy, to
provide a safe, mild, peaceful, and constitutional outlet or safety valve for the rising discontent
among the masses, which was inevitably leading towards a popular and violent revolution.
Consequently, the revolutionary potential was nipped in the bud. The core of the myth, that a
violent revolution was on the cards at the time and was avoided only by the foundations of the
Congress, is accepted by most writers; the liberals welcome it, the radicals use it to prove that the
Congress has always been compromising if not loyalist vis-a-vis imperialism, the extreme right
use it to show that the Congress has been anti-national from the beginning. All of them agree that
the manner of its birth affected the basic character and future work of the Congress in a crucial
manner.

9.1 Establishment of Congress, Factors Responsible for Its Foundation
and Theories of its Origin

In his Young India published in 1916, the Extremist leader Lala Lajpat Rai used the safety-valve
theory to attack the Moderates in the Congress. Having discussed the theory at length and suggested

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