Question

Explain the following statement with reasons.

Two groups were formed in the Indian National Congress.

Answer 1

The Indian National Congress was formed in 1885. Later, a division happened in the organization due to the difference in opinions of the two groups. The two groups were

1. Extremists
2. Moderates

INC was divided into two groups in the year 1907. In the Surat session of the Congress, this spill was officially visible.

The reasons for the differences between extremists and moderates were:

1. The period 1885–1905 of the Indian National Congress (INC) was dominated by moderates.
2. Surendranath Banerjee, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Ferozshah Mehta, etc. were moderates.
3. The moderates were influencing the “moderate" idea that the Britishers would agree with their demands as and when they confirmed it.
4. These Moderates believed in the request, prayers, meetings, leaflets, and pamphlets as formal messages and delegations to present their demands to the British.
5. But moderates failed to achieve any notable goals. They could only expand the legislative council by the Indian Council Act of 1892.
6. This created unhappiness among the members of INC.
7. The partition of Bengal made the members restless, and it was one of the reasons for the rise of extremism in INC.
8. In 1907, the Indian National Congress meeting that was conducted in Pune witnessed many problems within the organization. The extremists wanted Lala Lajpat Rai or Bal Gangadhar Tilak as president. But moderates wanted Rash Behari Ghosh to be president.
9. Therefore, a decision was made by Gopal Krishna Gokhale to change the meeting place of INC from Pune to Surat. If Pune was the meeting place, then Bal Gangadhar Tilak would become president. This was the fear of moderates.

Answer 2

On 28 December 1885, the first session of the Indian National Congress was held at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit School in Mumbai. In 1907, it was divided into two groups. The division occurred mainly due to extremists and moderates at the Surat Session of the Indian National Congress. From 1885 to 1907, moderates dominated INC and they appointed Rash Behari Ghosh to be the president. However, extremists were of the opinion that the methods followed by the moderates hadn’t achieved goals and hence wanted Lala Lajpat Rai or Bal Gangadhar Tilak to be president. The session was shifted to Surat from Pune so that Bal Gangadhar Tilak couldn’t preside over it which led to the division.