Moderate Phase (1885-1905)

Moderate Phase starts with the formation of Indian National Congress in 1884 by A.O. Hume, and ends with the start of Extremist Phase in 1905.

Indian National Congress [INC]

The National Union was formed in 1884 by A.O. Hume an Englishman and a retired civil servant, in association with leaders called for a conference in Pune in December 1885.

• The conference received the support of all Indian leaders, the venue is shifted to Bombay due to various reasons like cholera in Pune.
• The leaders decided to rename it as Indian National Congress.
• The first session of the INC was held at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Bombayunder the presidentship of W.C. Bannerji, a lawyer of Calcutta.
• The INC met every year and its cause spread rapidly among middle class Indians.
• The first two decades of INC are described in history as of Moderates demands and a sense of confidence in British rule. There aim was not to be aggressive for attaining independence least the British should supress this.
• This results in Indian Council Act, 1892 which allowed some members to be indirectly elected by Indians but keeping the official majority intact.

Important leaders of Moderate Phase

Dada Bhai Naoroji	A.O. Hume	Badruddin Tayebji	W.C. Bannerji
Ferozshah Mehta	Madan Mohan Malviya	Gopal Krishna Gokhle	Ras Bihari Ghosh
C.Y. Chintamani	S. Subramanyam Aiyar	Surendra Nath Bannerji	etc.

Opinions about INC

1. INC represents only a microscopic minorities – Lord Dufferin [Contemporary Viceroy]
2. The congress is tottering to its fall, and one of my great ambitions, while in India, is to assist it to a peaceful demise – Lord Curzon [Viceroy]
3. INC is a begging institute – Aurobindo Ghosh [extremist leader]
4. INC should distinguished between begging and claiming the rights – Bal Gangadhar Tilak [extremist leader]
5. INC playing with bubbles –Bipin Chandra Pal [extremist leader]