Indian National Congress

For similarly named parties, see Indian National Congress (disambiguation). Not to be confused with the Parliament of India.

Indian National Congress
AbbreviationINC
PresidentMallikarjun Kharge[1][2]
General Secretary
PresidiumAll India Congress Committee
Parliamentary ChairpersonSonia Gandhi[3]
Lok Sabha LeaderRahul Gandhi
(LoP in Lok Sabha)
Rajya Sabha LeaderMallikarjun Kharge
(LoP in Rajya Sabha)
TreasurerAjay Maken
FounderA.O. Hume
W.C. Bonnerjee
S.N. Banerjee
Monomohun Ghose
William Wedderburn
Dadabhai Naoroji
Badruddin Tyabji
Pherozeshah Mehta
Dinshaw Wacha
Mahadev Ranade[4]
Founded28 December 1885 (138 years ago) (1885-12-28)
Headquarters24, Akbar Road, New Delhi-110001[5]
NewspaperCongress Sandesh
National Herald
Student wingNational Students' Union of India
Youth wingIndian Youth Congress
Women's wingAll India Mahila Congress
Labour wingIndian National Trade Union Congress
Peasant's wingKisan and Khet Mazdoor Congress[6]
Membership55 million (2023)[7][8]
Ideology
Political positionCentre[21]
International affiliationProgressive Alliance[22]
Socialist International[23][24][25]
Colours      Saffron, white and green (official; Indian national colours)[a]
  Sky blue (customary)[b]
ECI StatusNational Party[26]
Alliance
Former Alliances
Seats in Lok Sabha
99 / 543
(540 MPs and 3 vacant)[27]
Seats in Rajya Sabha
27 / 245
(231 MPs and 14 vacant)[28][29]
Seats in State Legislative Assemblies
689 / 4,036

(4030 MLAs and 5 vacant)

(see complete list)
Seats in State Legislative Councils
60 / 426

(390 MLCs and 36 vacant)

(see complete list)
Number of states and union territories in government
6 / 31
(28 States and 3 UTs)
Election symbol
Party flag
Website
www.inc.in Edit this at Wikidata
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Indian National Congress
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International affiliation

The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party or simply the Congress, is a political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa.[c][30] From the late 19th century, and especially after 1920, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress became the principal leader of the Indian independence movement.[31] The Congress led India to independence from the United Kingdom,[d][32][e][33] and significantly influenced other anti-colonial nationalist movements in the British Empire.[f][30]

The INC is a "big tent" party that has been described as sitting on the centre of the Indian political spectrum.[9][19][34] The party held its first session in 1885 in Bombay where W.C. Bonnerjee presided over it.[35] After Indian independence in 1947, Congress emerged as a catch-all and secular party, dominating Indian politics for the next 50 years. The party's first prime minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, led the Congress to support socialist policies by creating the Planning Commission, introducing Five-Year Plans, implementing a mixed economy, and establishing a secular state. After Nehru's death and the short tenure of Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi became the leader of the party. In the 17 general elections since independence, it has won an outright majority on seven occasions and has led the ruling coalition a further three times, heading the central government for more than 54 years. There have been six prime ministers from the Congress party, the first being Jawaharlal Nehru (1947–1964), and the most recent being Manmohan Singh (2004–2014). Since the 1990s, the Bharatiya Janata Party has emerged as the main rival of the Congress in both national and regional politics.

In 1969, the party suffered a major split, with a faction led by Indira Gandhi leaving to form the Congress (R), with the remainder becoming the Congress (O). The Congress (R) became the dominant faction, winning the 1971 general election by a huge margin. From 1975 to 1977, Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency in India, resulting in widespread oppression and abuses of power. Another split in the party occurred in 1979, leading to the creation of the Congress (I), which was recognized as the Congress by the Election Commission in 1981. Under Rajiv Gandhi's leadership, the party won a massive victory in the 1984 general elections, nevertheless losing the election held in 1989 to the National Front. The Congress then returned to power under P. V. Narasimha Rao, who moved the party towards an economically liberal agenda, a sharp break from previous leaders. However, it lost the 1996 general election and was replaced in government by the National Front. After a record eight years out of office, the Congress-led coalition known as the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) under Manmohan Singh formed a government the 2004 general elections. Subsequently, the UPA again formed the government after winning the 2009 general elections, and Singh became the first prime minister since Indira Gandhi in 1971 to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term. However, under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi in the 2014 general election, the Congress suffered a heavy defeat, winning only 44 seats of the 543-member Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Parliament of India). In the 2019 general election, the party failed to make any substantial gains and won 52 seats, failing to form the official opposition yet again. In the 2024 general election, the party performed better-than-expected, and won 99 seats, forming the official opposition with their highest seat count in a decade.[g]

On social issues, it advocates secular policies that encourage equal opportunity, right to health, right to education, civil liberty, and support social market economy, and a strong welfare state. Being a centrist party, its policies predominantly reflected balanced positions including secularism, egalitarianism, and social stratification.[citation needed] The INC supports contemporary economic reforms such as liberalisation, privatisation and globalization. A total of 61 people have served as the president of the INC since its formation. Sonia Gandhi is the longest-serving president of the party, having held office for over twenty years from 1998 to 2017 and again from 2019 to 2022 (as interim). Mallikarjun Kharge is the current party President. The district party is the smallest functional unit of Congress. There is also a Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), present at the state level in every state. Together, the delegates from the districts and PCCs form the All India Congress Committee (AICC). The party is additionally structured into various committees and segments including the Working Committee (CWC), Seva Dal, Indian Youth Congress (IYC), Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), and National Students' Union of India (NSUI). The party holds the annual plenary sessions, at which senior Congress figures promote party policy.

  1. ^ "Mallikarjun Kharge wins Congress Presidential elections, set to become first non-Gandhi head of party in 24 years". The Economic Times. 3 June 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  2. ^ Phukan, Sandeep (19 October 2022). "Mallikarjun Kharge wins Congress presidential election with over 7,800 votes". The Hindu.
  3. ^ "Sonia Gandhi to chair Congress parliamentary strategy group meeting to formulate strategy for Winter Session of Parliament". The Print. 29 November 2022.
  4. ^
  5. ^ "Rent relief unlikely for Congress's Delhi properties". The Times of India. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  6. ^ "Kisan and Khet Mazdoor Congress sets 10-day deadline for Centre to concede demands". The Hindu. 16 June 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
  7. ^ "Southern states ahead in Congress membership drive, Telangana unit leads". ThePrint. 28 March 2022.
  8. ^ "Congress' Digital Membership Drive Gains Focus With Boost in Participation, South Contributes Significantly". ABP News. 27 March 2022.
  9. ^ a b c d Lowell Barrington (2009). Comparative Politics: Structures and Choices. Cengage Learning. p. 379. ISBN 978-0-618-49319-7.
  10. ^ Meyer, Karl Ernest; Brysac, Shareen Blair (2012). Pax Ethnica: Where and How Diversity Succeeds. PublicAffairs. p. 50. ISBN 978-1-61039-048-4. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  11. ^ [9][10]
  12. ^ Emiliano Bosio; Yusef Waghid, eds. (31 October 2022). Global Citizenship Education in the Global South: Educators' Perceptions and Practices. Brill. p. 270. ISBN 9789004521742.
  13. ^ DeSouza, Peter Ronald (2006). India's Political Parties Readings in Indian Government and Politics series. Sage Publishing. p. 420. ISBN 978-9-352-80534-1.
  14. ^ Rosow, Stephen J.; George, Jim (2014). Globalization and Democracy. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 91–96. ISBN 978-1-442-21810-9.
  15. ^ [12][13][14]
  16. ^ Agrawal, S. P.; Aggarwal, J. C., eds. (1989). Nehru on Social Issues. New Delhi: Concept Publishing. ISBN 978-817022207-1.
  17. ^ [9][16]
  18. ^ a b Soper, J. Christopher; Fetzer, Joel S. (2018). Religion and Nationalism in Global Perspective. Cambridge University Press. pp. 200–210. ISBN 978-1-107-18943-0.
  19. ^ a b "Political Parties – NCERT" (PDF). National Council of Educational Research and Training. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  20. ^ Jean-Pierre Cabestan, Jacques deLisle, ed. (2013). Inside India Today (Routledge Revivals). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-04823-5. ... were either guarded in their criticism of the ruling party – the centrist Indian National Congress – or attacked it almost invariably from a rightist position. This was so for political and commercial reasons, which are explained, ...
  21. ^ [9][19][20]
  22. ^ "Progressive Alliance Participants". Progressive Alliance. Archived from the original on 2 March 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  23. ^ "Full Member Parties of Socialist International". Socialist International.
  24. ^ Gabriel Sheffer (1993). Innovative Leaders in International Politics. SUNY Press. p. 202. ISBN 978-0-7914-1520-7. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
  25. ^ "Meeting of the SI Council at the United Nations in Geneva". Socialist International.
  26. ^ "List of Political Parties and Election Symbols main Notification Dated 18.01.2013" (PDF). India: Election Commission of India. 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
  27. ^ "Digital Sansad".
  28. ^ "Party Position in the Rajya Sabha" (PDF). Rajya Sabha. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  29. ^ "Digital Sansad".
  30. ^ a b c d Marshall, P. J. (2001), The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire, Cambridge University Press, p. 179, ISBN 978-0-521-00254-7
  31. ^ "Information about the Indian National Congress". open.ac.uk. Arts & Humanities Research council. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  32. ^ a b Chiriyankandath, James (2016), Parties and Political Change in South Asia, Routledge, p. 2, ISBN 978-1-317-58620-3
  33. ^ a b Kopstein, Jeffrey; Lichbach, Mark; Hanson, Stephen E. (2014), Comparative Politics: Interests, Identities, and Institutions in a Changing Global Order, Cambridge University Press, p. 344, ISBN 978-1-139-99138-4
  34. ^ Saez, Lawrence; Sinha, Aseema (2010). "Political cycles, political institutions and public expenditure in India, 1980–2000". British Journal of Political Science. 40 (1): 91–113. doi:10.1017/s0007123409990226. ISSN 0007-1234. S2CID 154767259.
  35. ^ "Indian National Congress". Indian National Congress. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  36. ^ Joy, Shemin. "Lok Sabha Elections 2024: With support of 3 Independent MPs, I.N.D.I.A now has 237 seats". Deccan Herald.
  37. ^ Roushan, Anurag (9 July 2024). "Rahul Gandhi to visit Rae Bareli today to thank people of constituency for his Lok Sabha election victory". India TV News.


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