Indian National Congress

The grand old party of India, founded in 1885, which led independence and governed for most of its aftermath.

Overview

Congress was founded in 1885 by colonial era Indian professionals under A O Hume, becoming under Gandhi and Nehru the mass movement of the independence struggle, its 1947 triumph birthing the Indian state. Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi, assassinated in 1984, and grandson Rajiv governed the Congress system that decayed into the 1989-2014 coalition and family party eras. The party under Sonia and Rahul Gandhi led the United Progressive Alliance governments 2004-2014. Reduced by the BJP rise, it anchored the 2024 opposition recovery. Congress remains the vessel of Indian constitutional nationalism and the dynastic catch all tradition.