late nineteenth century when the INC was formed. It was the early nationalists who helped the formulation of the idea of we as a nation. They were developing the indigenous anti-colonial ideology and a strategy on their In December , Allan Octavian Hume, a retired English ICS officer, presided over a meeting of the Theosophical Society in Madras. The formation of a political organisation that would work on an all India basis was discussed and the idea of forming the Indian National Congress emerged in this meeting.
The Indian National Congress was formed on December in Bombay. Apart from A.O Hume, another important founding member was W C. Bonnerjee, who was elected the first president. Though the activities of the INC then revolved around petitions and memoranda, from the very beginning the founders of the INC worked to bring every section of the society into its ambit.
One of the main missions of the INC was to weld the Indians into a nation. They were convinced that the struggle against the colonial rule will be successful only if Indians saw themselves as the members of a nation. To achieve this, the INC acted as a common political platform for all the movements that were being organised in different parts of the country. The INC provided the space where the political workers from different parts of the country could gather and conduct their political activities under its banner.
Even though the organization was small with less than a hundred members, it had an all-India character with representation from all regions of India. It was the beginning of the mobilisation of people on an all-India basis. The major objectives and demands of INC were Constitutional Opportunity for participation in the government was one of the major demands of the Indian National Congress. It demanded Indian representation in the government.
W.C. Bonnerjee Rise of Nationalism in India were involved in journalism. Dadabhai Naoroji founded and edited two journals called Voice of India and RastGoftar . Surendranath Banerjea edited newspaper called