Indian National Congress

Indian National Congress
Chairperson	Sonia Gandhi
Parliamentary Chairperson	Sonia Gandhi
Leader in Lok Sabha	Pranab Mukherjee (Finance Minister)
Leader in Rajya Sabha	Manmohan Singh (Prime Minister)
Founded	1885
Headquarters	24, Akbar Road, New Delhi, 110011
Newspaper	Congress Sandesh
Student wing	National Students Union of India
Youth wing	Indian Youth Congress
Women's wing	Mahila Congress
Labour wing	Indian National Trade Union Congress
Ideology	Populism Indian Nationalism Social liberalism Anti-communism Democratic socialism Social democracy Secularism Third Way Social Populism
Political position	Center-left[1]
International affiliation	Alliance of Democrats[2]
Official colours	Aqua
ECI Status	National Party
Alliance	United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
Seats in Lok Sabha	206 / 545
Seats in Rajya Sabha	72 / 250
Election symbol
Website
http://www.congress.org.in/
Politics of India Political parties Elections

	This article is part of a series about Indian National Congress	Joe Biden
History of Congress  · Pradesh Congress Committee  · All India Congress Committee  · Congress Working Committee  · Congress President  · Central Election Committee  · Statewise Election history of Congress Party

The Indian National Congress (Hindi: भारतीय राष्ट्रीय कांग्रेस) (abbreviated INC, and also known as the Congress party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world.^[3][4][5] The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in Indian political spectrum. Founded in 1885 by Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji, Dinshaw Wacha, Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, Surendranath Banerjee, Monomohun Ghose, Mahadev Govind Ranade^[6] and William Wedderburn, the Indian National Congress became the leader of the Indian Independence Movement, with over 15 million members and over 70 million participants in its struggle against British rule in India. After independence in 1947, it became the nation's dominant political party, led by the Nehru-Gandhi family for the most part; major challenges for party leadership have only recently formed.

In the 2009 general elections, the Congress emerged as the single largest party in the Lok Sabha, with 206 of its candidates getting elected to the 543-member house. Consequently, it along with a coalition of allies called the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), was able to gain a majority and form the government.

History

The history of the Indian National Congress falls into two distinct eras:

• The pre-independence era, when the party was at the forefront of the struggle for independence and was instrumental in the whole of India;
• The post-independence era, when the party has enjoyed a prominent place in Indian politics, ruling the country for 48 of the 60 years since independence in 1947.

In the pre-independence era, the congress was divided in two groups, moderate and activist. The moderates were more educated and wanted to win people's faith to lead the nation to independence without bloodshed.the activists however wanted to follow a revolutionary path and make it a militant organization.

The pre-independence era

First session of Indian National Congress, Bombay, 28-31, December, 1885.

Founded in 1885 with the objective of obtaining a greater share in government for educated Indians, the Indian National Congress was initially not opposed to British rule. The Congress met once a year during December. Indeed, it was a Scotsman, Allan Octavian Hume, who brought about its first meeting in Bombay, with the approval of Lord Dufferin, the then-Viceroy.

Womesh Chandra Bannerjee was the first President of the INC. The first meeting was scheduled to be held in Pune, but due to a plague outbreak there, the meeting was later shifted to Bombay. The first session of the INC was held from 28–31 December 1885, and was attended by 72 delegates.

A few years down the line, the demands of INC became more radical in the face of constant opposition from the government, and the party became very active in the independence movement. By 1907 the party was split into two halves: the Garam Dal (literally "hot faction") of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, or Extremists , and the Naram Dal (literally "soft faction") of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, or Moderates, distinguished by their attitude towards the British. Under the influence of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the Congress became the first integrated mass organization in the country, bringing together millions of people against the British. The Indian National Congress was the only political party to provide harmony to all the sects of the Indian society

In its time as the nation's leader in the freedom struggle, it produced the nation's greatest leaders. Before the Gandhi Era came leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Mohammed Ali Jinnah (later leader of the Muslim League and instrumental in the creation of Pakistan), all starting with the first legendary icon of Indians: Dadabhai Naoroji, the president of the sister Indian National Association and later the first Indian Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons. The Congress was transformed into a mass movement by Surendranath Banerjea and Sir Henry Cotton during the partition of Bengal in 1905 and the resultant Swadesi Movement. Gandhi came back from South Africa in 1915 and with the help of the moderate group led by Ghokhale became the President of the Congress and formed an alliance with the Khilafat Movement. In protest a number of leaders went out of Congress. Khilafat movement ended up in a disaster and the Congress was split. A number of leaders Chittaranjan Das, Annie Besant, Motilal Nehru, went out of The Congress to set up the Swaraj Party.

Mahatma Gandhi, President of Congress party (1869–1948).

With the rise of Mahatma Gandhi's popularity and his Satyagraha art of revolution came Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (the nation's first Prime Minister), Dr. Rajendra Prasad (the nation's first President), Khan Mohammad Abbas Khan, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Chakravarti Rajgopalachari, Jivatram Kripalani and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. With the already existing nationalistic feeling combined with Gandhi's popularity the Congress became a forceful mass organization in the country, bringing together millions of people by specifically working against caste differences, untouchability, poverty, and religious and ethnic boundaries. Although predominantly Hindu, it had members from virtually every religion, ethnic group, economic class and linguistic group. In 1939, Subhas Chandra Bose, the elected president in both 1938 and 1939 was expelled from the Congress for his socialist views and The Congress was reduced to a pro-Business group financed by the business houses of Birla and Bajaj. At the time of the Quit India movement, the Congress was undoubtedly the strongest political and revolutionary organization in India, but the Congress disassociated itself from the Quit India movement within a few days. The Indian National Congress could not claim to be the true representative of the Indian people as other parties were there as well particularly the Hindu Mahasabha, Azad Hind Sarkar, Forward Bloc.

The 1929 Lahore session under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru holds special significance as in this session "Poorna Swaraj" (complete independence) was declared as the goal of INC. 26 January 1930 was declared as "Poorna Swaraj Diwas," Independence Day although the British remained in India a number of years longer. It was to commemorate this date particularly that The Indian Constitution was formally adopted on 26 January 1950 (even though it was passed on 26 November 1949).However in 1929 Srinivas Iyenger was expelled from the Congress for demanding full independence, not just home rule as demanded by Gandhi.

After the First World War the party became associated with Mahatma Gandhi, who remained its unofficial, spiritual leader and mass icon even as younger men and women became party president. The party was in many ways an umbrella organization, sheltering within itself radical socialists, traditionalists and even Hindu and Muslim conservatives, but all the socialists (including the Congress Socialist Party, Krishak Praja Party, Swarajya Party members) were expelled along with Subhas Chandra Bose in 1939 by Gandhi.

Members of the Congress initially supported the sailors who led the Royal Indian Navy Mutiny. However they withdrew support at the critical juncture, when the mutiny failed.

During the INA trials of 1946, the Congress helped to form the INA Defence Committee, which forcefully defended the case of the soldiers of the Azad Hind government. The committee declared the formation of the Congress' defence team for the INA and included famous lawyers of the time, including Bhulabhai Desai, Asaf Ali, and Jawaharlal Nehru.

The post-independence era

The party remained in power for thirty continuous years between independence in 1947 and its first taste of electoral defeat (at the national level) in 1977.

Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Congress Prime Minister of India (1947–1964).

Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel are said to have held the view that the INC was formed only for achieving independence and should have been disbanded in 1947.^[7] However, at the time of independence, the INC (led by Jawaharlal Nehru) was a major political organization in the country, and was established as the major political party. The Congress thus, considering the perceived need for a stable leadership and guiding vision after the terrible chaos and confusion following the Partition of India and Independence, was re-established as an electoral party in independent India. Across several general elections, the party ruled uninterrupted until 1977, and has remained a major political force.

After the murder of Gandhi in 1948, and the death of Sardar Patel in 1950, Jawaharlal Nehru was the sole remaining iconic national leader, and soon the situation became so that Nehru was key to the political potency and future of the Congress. Nehru embraced secularism, socialist economic policies and a non-aligned foreign policy, which became the hallmark of the modern Congress Party. Nehru's policies challenged the landed class, the business class and improved the position of religious minorities and lower caste Hindus. A generation of freedom fighting leaders were soon replaced by a generation of people who had grown up in the shadow of Nehru. Nehru led the Congress Party to consecutively majorities in the elections of 1952, 1957 and 1962.

After Nehru's death in 1964, the party's future first came into question. No leader was competitive enough to touch Nehru's iconic status, so the second-stage leadership mustered around the compromise candidate, the gentle, soft-spoken and Nehruvian Lal Bahadur Shastri. Shastri remained Prime Minister till his own death in 1966, and a broad Congress Party election opted for Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter, over the right-wing, conservative Morarji Desai.

Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi, thrice Prime Minister of India.

The first serious challenge to Congress hegemony came in 1967 when a united opposition, under the banner of Samyukt Vidhayak Dal, won control over several states in the Hindi belt. Indira Gandhi, the daughter of Nehru, and Congress president, was then challenged by the majority of the party leadership. The conflict led to a split, and Indira launched a separate INC. Initially this party was known as Congress (R), but it soon came to be generally known as the New Congress. The official party became known as Indian National Congress (Organisation) led by Kamaraj. It was informally called the Old Congress. As Indira Gandhi had control over the state machinery, her faction was recognized as the "real" INC by the Election Commission of India, although her organization was the break-away group.

The split can in some ways be seen as a left-wing/right-wing division. Indira Gandhi wanted to use a populist agenda in order to mobilize popular support for the party. She raised slogans such as Garibi Hatao (Remove Poverty), and wanted to develop closer ties with the Soviet Union. The regional party elites, who formed the INC(O), stood for a more conservative agenda, and distrusted Soviet help. INC(O) later merged into the Janata Party.

Gradually, Indira Gandhi grew more and more authoritarian. Following allegations of widespread rigging in the general elections, a court overturned Indira Gandhi's victory in the Parliamentary constituency. Facing growing opposition she proclaimed a state of National Emergency in 1975, curtailed the powers of the courts, and unleashed a police state.

After she lifted the emergency in 1977, more Congress factions were formed, the one remaining loyal to Indira Gandhi being popularly known as Congress(I) with an 'I' for Indira. The Congress (I) was routed in the general elections by the Janata Party, but the coalition government fell apart in two years. The Congress party returned to power in the ensuing 1980 elections. In 1984 Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards, in revenge for Operation Blue Star. In the following days more than six thousand Sikhs were killed in the 1984 riots, mainly in Delhi, by activists and leaders of the Congress Party.

The post-Indira era

Chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance and President of Indian National Congress

Afterward, former treasurer Sitaram Kesri took over the reins of the party and oversaw the Congress support to the United Front governments that ran from 1996–1998. During his tenure, several key leaders broke away from the party, and serious infighting broke out among those left. In 1998, Sonia Gandhi finally accepted the post of Congress President, in a move that may have saved the party from extinction.

After her election as party leader, a section of the party, which objected to the choice, broke away and formed the Nationalist Congress Party. The use of "Congress (I)" continues to denote the party run by Indira Gandhi's successors. There have been repeated attempts by the Indian nationalist groups (such as the Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP) to discredit Sonia Gandhi's leadership on the basis of her foreign origin - she is of Italian ethnicity.

Although the Congress expedited the downfall of the NDA government in 1999 by promising an alternative, Ms. Gandhi's decision was followed by fresh elections and the Congress party's worst-ever tally in the lower house. The party spent the interval period forging alliances and overseeing changes in the state and central organizations to revive the party. It has had many electoral successes which led up to the formation of a Congress-led government in 2004. In the next general election in 2009 which made Manmohan Singh the Prime Minister once again, and Congress was the first party to get 206 seats during a coalition era of politics.

Indian Prime Ministers from the Congress Party

• Jawaharlal Nehru (1947–1964)
• Gulzarilal Nanda (May - June 1964 and in January 1966)
• Lal Bahadur Shastri (1964–1966)
• Indira Gandhi (1966–1977, 1980–1984)
• Rajiv Gandhi (1984–1989)
• P.V. Narasimha Rao (1991–1996)
• Manmohan Singh (2004 -)

Controversies and criticisms

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh shakes hands with the then U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney after delivering a speech to the Joint session of the United States Congress as the then Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert looks on.

Since the party has dominated the political landscape of India for over a century, there are many charges of corruption and similar charges against it. Some examples are:

1947 - anti-Godse riots

After the knowledge that the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, Nathuram Godse, was a Maharashtrian Brahmin, some workers of the Congress Party went on a rampage, against the supporters of Savarkar and Nathuram Godse, burning their houses and putting thousands in jail.^[8]

1975-1977 - State of Emergency

On 12 June 1975 the High Court of Allahabad declared Indira Gandhi's election to the Lok Sabha void on grounds of electoral malpractice. But Mrs Gandhi rejected calls to resign and announced plans to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Indira had already been accused of authoritarianism. By using her strong parliamentary majority, her ruling Congress Party had amended the Constitution and altered the balance of power between the Centre and the States in favour of the Central Government. She had twice imposed "President's Rule" under Article 356 of the Constitution by declaring states ruled by opposition parties as "lawless and chaotic", and thus seizing control. In response to her new tendency for authoritarian use of power, public figures and former freedom-fighters like Jaya Prakash Narayan, Satyendra Narayan Sinha and Acharya Jivatram Kripalani toured India, speaking actively against her and her government.

Indira Gandhi moved to restore order by ordering the arrest of most of the opposition participating in the unrest. Her Cabinet and government then recommended that President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed declare a state of emergency, because of the disorder and lawlessness following the Allahabad High Court decision. Accordingly, Ahmed declared a State of Emergency caused by internal disorder, based on the provisions of Article 352 of the Constitution, on 26 June 1975. It is one of the most controversial periods in the history of independent India.^[9]

1984 anti-Sikh riots

After the assassination of Indira Gandhi by 2 of her Sikh Body Guards following Operation Bluestar, many Congress workers including Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar were accused of inciting and participating in Sikh riots.

Rajiv Gandhi's remarks

Then Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi, son of Indira Gandhi, made a statement at Boat Club in New Delhi on 19 November 1984, on the birthday of Indira Gandhi, "Some riots took place in the country following the murder of Indiraji. We know the people were very angry and for a few days it seemed that India had been shaken. But, when a mighty tree falls, it is only natural that the earth around it does shake a little.".^[10][11][12]

Allegations of conspiracy and cover-ups

There are allegations that the government destroyed evidence and shielded the guilty. The Asian Age front page story called the government actions "the Mother of all Cover-ups"^[13][14] There are allegations that the violence was led and often perpetrated by Indian National Congress activists and sympathizers during the riots. The government, then led by the Congress, was widely criticized for doing very little at the time, possibly acting as a conspirator. The conspiracy theory is supported by the fact that voting lists were used to identify Sikh families.

Allegations of religious bias

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and also many right-wing Hindus have repeatedly accused the Congress Party and its allies of being pro-Muslim, pro-Islam supporting Sharia Laws and showing unnatural favouritism to the Indian Muslim community and toleration, or even promotion of Islamic conservatism and Obscurantism.

The BJP and many Indian Hindus have often accused Congress party and their allies of being soft on Islamic extremism, Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic terrorism and Islamism by scrapping Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (POTA) immediately after it won the elections in 2004, refusing death penalty to hard-core Islamic terrorists like Afzal Guru, Abdul Subhan Qureshi, Safdar Nagori, Ajmal Kasab and trying to scrap the ban on Students Islamic Movement of India in order to appease Indian Muslim community. It has also been accused of being soft on Indian terrorist groups like Indian Mujahideen which resulted in the resignation of then Home Minister Shivraj Patil in 2008.

Congress has been accused of deliberately fragmenting Hindus while consolidating conservative Muslim votes (by opposing the Uniform Civil Code and allowing Muslims a separate personal code, etc.)

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and previous Congress-led governments have been accused of revising history textbooks to present a Marxist bias, and whitewashing the record of Atrocities committed by Muslim Emperors and Kings on Hindus during six-hundred years of Islamic Rule over India and during the Partition of India in order to "de-saffronize" textbooks and acquire Muslim votes.

Congress has been accused of funding the Indian Muslims' Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and subsidies for their religious schools (Madrassas) at the cost of the taxpayers' money. On one hand, Government of India provides subsidy to Muslims to perform Hajj; on other hand, Government of India bound them to fly through government airlines and also gets subsidy from Saudi Arabia for services providing to Indian Muslims, whereas Hindus claim they are accorded no similar privilege for their own pilgrimages or religious schools by the Government of India.

The Congress party and its allies are accused of showing "partial" secularism, in which only Hindus are expected to be secular while Muslims and other minorities remain free to practice exclusionary practices.^[15].

Congress and its allies are often accused of ignoring the plea of Kashmiri Pandits for action against Islamic terrorists in Kashmir and solely focusing on the issues of the Indian Muslim community to gain Muslim votes. Kashmiri Pandits have been in exile since January 1990 following the outbreak of terrorism in Kashmir.

The Congress-led UPA government has been accused by both Hindu and Christian organizations^[16] for completely ignoring the Love Jihad^[17] activity allegedly perpetrated by and Islamic party Popular Front of India and its umbrella organizations under which young Muslim boys in Kerala and coastal Karnataka reportedly target college girls belonging to Hindu and Christian communities for conversion to Islam by feigning love. It has been reported that the Congress government is calling the Love Jihad activity as dubious and the allegations by Hindu and Christian organizations as un-secular for the fear of losing Muslim votes. It has been reported that local Muslim politicians have been silently supporting and promoting the 'Love Jihad' campaign in Kerala and Karnataka.

Charges for bidding for seats

In November 2008, senior Congress leader, Margaret Alva, made a charge that congress seats for the elections were up for bidding as opposed to a meritocratic appointment to run. The party responded to the charge by denying such a claim, as well as dropping her as general secretary of the party, the Congress Working Committee and the party's Central Election Committee. She was also stripped of her charge of the congress party in Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana and Mizoram. Congress spokesperson, Shakeel Ahmad, added that "Congress president Mrs Sonia Gandhi has taken the decision on the report submitted by Mr AK Antony, chairperson of the Disciplinary Action Committee."^[18] This followed an outburst by the son of the congress chairperson, Rahul Gandhi, that "Democracy in political parties is non-existent in India. You cannot enter unless you are well connected." In response the recent allegations he said, "I had made some recommendations to include some younger boys. I am not unhappy with the distribution of tickets."^[19]

Formation of present Government of India

A Congress rally in New Delhi.

In the 2004 general elections, the Congress alliance won the largest number of seats and got an assurance of support from the Left Front upsetting the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance, which was variously forecast to win outright victory or at least emerge as the largest alliance. Shortly thereafter, Sonia Gandhi was nominated by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance to be the next Prime Minister. But in what was described as the dropping of a political bombshell, Sonia Gandhi refused to take the position based on her "inner voice". She backed eminent economist, former Union Finance Minister and senior Congress leader Dr. Manmohan Singh for the post of Prime Minister, and he was sworn-in as Prime Minister on 22 May 2004. Veerappa Moily, the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, was named the Honourable Minister for Law, Justice, and Company Affairs and was appointed to be the All India Congress Committee's General Secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh.

Despite strong opposition from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), AIADMK, SP, RJD, LJP, TDP, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Indian National Congress won the elections again in 2009, the people gave their mandate to the Congress party and it was the only party to achieve 206 seats in 20 years. The youth supported the Congress under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. The Congress's popularity has increased by 61% during the elections.

Ideology and policies

Historically, the party has favored farmers, laborers, labor unions, and religious and ethnic minorities; it has opposed unregulated business and finance, and favored progressive income taxes. However, in recent years the party had adopted centrist economic and social democratic agenda. Today, the INC advocates neo-liberal policies which includes populism, social liberalism, secularism and free enterprise system with government regulations such as public–private partnership (PPP) model. Though it still believes in eradicating poverty, illiteracy and strongly supports the weaker section of the society.

Social policy

Social policy of the INC is based on Gandhian concept of Sarvodaya (upliftment of all sections of the society.) In particular INC gives special emphasis on the welfare of the economically and socially disadvantaged sections of the society. This includes "affirmative action" reservations for weaker sections of the society in education and employment, emphasis on employment generation for rural population (through schemes such as National Rural Employment Generation Scheme) etc. The party supports family planning with birth control but opposes elective abortion, in particular sex selective abortions and late term abortions.

Economic policy

Traditionally, Economic policy of the INC emphasized on the importance of the public sector aimed at establishing a "socialistic pattern of society". However, since the economic liberalizations initiated by Dr. Manmohan Singh, the then Finance Minister in the early 1990s, the economic policy of INC has been changed somewhat and it is now adopted free market policies, though at the same time it is in favour of taking a cautious approach in proceeding with liberalization to ensure that the weaker sections are not affected too hard by the liberalization process.

Foreign policy

Traditionally, nonalignment has been the bedrock of the foreign policy of the INC.

Internal organization

The organization developed by Mohandas Gandhi's reorganization of the Congress in the years of 1918 to 1920 has largely been retained till today.

In every Indian state and union territory or pradesh, there is a Pradesh Congress Committee, which is the provincial unit of the party, responsible for directing political campaigns at local and state levels and assisting the campaigns for Parliamentary constituencies. Each PCC has a Working Committee of 10-15 key members, and the state president is the leader of the state unit. The Congressmen elected as members of the states legislative assemblies form the Congress Legislature Parties in the various state assemblies, and their chairperson is usually the party's nominee for Chief Ministership.

The All India Congress Committee is formed of delegates sent from the PCCs around the country. The delegates elect various Congress committees, including the Congress Working Committee, which consists of senior party leaders and office bearers, and takes all important executive and political decisions.

The President of the Indian National Congress is in effect the party's national leader, head of the organization, head of the Working Committee and all chief Congress committees, chief spokesman and the Congress choice to become the Prime Minister of India.

Constitutionally, the president is to be elected by the vote of the PCCs and members of the AICC. However, this procedure has often been by-passed by the Working Committee, choosing to elect its own candidate as an emergency measure.

The Congress Parliamentary Party is the group of elected MPs in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.It is headed by senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee. Since the current Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh is not an elected member of the Lok Sabha, Pranab is the CPP president. Dr.Singh is Leader of the Rajya Sabha. There is also a CLP leader in each state. The CLP (Congress Legislative Party) consists of all MLAs in each state. It also comes under the CPP so Pranab is head of the MLAs also.In cases of states where the Congress is single-handedly ruling the government,the CLP leader is the Chief Minister.

Congress in various states

Congress ruled states marked in dark green

Congress is currently in power in seven states (Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana, Mizoram and Manipur) where the party enjoys a majority of its own. In three other states — Assam, Goa and Maharashtra — it shares power with other alliance partners. In Tamil Nadu, where it lost power in 1967 assembly election, is not able to capture again since then. The party now provides outside support to the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam there in return for DMK's outside support for Congress in Puducherry ^[20]. In the remaining states and union territories, various opposition parties are in power.

List of current Congress Chief Ministers

• Dorjee Khandu - Arunachal Pradesh
• Konijeti Rosaiah - Andhra Pradesh
• Tarun Gogoi - Assam
• Sheila Dikshit - Delhi
• Digambar Kamat - Goa
• Bhupinder Singh Hooda - Haryana
• Ashok Chavan - Maharashtra
• Okram Ibobi Singh - Manipur
• Pu Lalthanhawla - Mizoram
• Vaithilingam - Puducherry
• Ashok Gehlot - Rajasthan
• D.D. Lapang - Meghalaya

List of presidents of the party

2009 general elections

The Indian National Congress-led coalition United Progressive Alliance (UPA), headed by Ms. Sonia Gandhi, won the plurality of votes in the general elections of 2009 and formed the government under the leadership of Dr. Manmohan Singh.

See also

• Statewise Election history of Congress Party
• Jinnah's People's Memorial Hall
• Nehru-Gandhi Family
• List of political parties in India
• Politics of India

References

Bibliography

• Bipan Chandra, Amales Tripathi, Barun De. Freedom Struggle. India: National Book Struggle. ISBN 81-237-0249-X.

Further reading

• The Indian National Congress: An Historical Sketch, by Frederick Marion De Mello. Published by H. Milford, Oxford university press, 1934.
• The Indian National Congress, by Hemendra Nath Das Gupta. Published by J. K. Das Gupta, 1946.
• Indian National Congress: A Descriptive Bibliography of India's Struggle for Freedom, by Jagdish Saran Sharma. Published by S. Chand, 1959.
• Social Factors in the Birth and Growth of the Indian National Congress Movement, by Ramparkash Dua. Published by S. Chand, 1967.
• Split in a Predominant Party: The Indian National Congress in 1969, by Mahendra Prasad Singh. Abhinav Publications, 1981. ISBN 81-7017-140-7.
• Concise History of the Indian National Congress, 1885-1947, by B. N. Pande, Nisith Ranjan Ray, Ravinder Kumar, Manmath Nath Das. Published by Vikas Pub. House, 1985. ISBN 0-7069-3020-7.
• The Indian National Congress: An Analytical Biography, by Om P. Gautam. Published by B.R. Pub. Corp., 1985.
• A Century of Indian National Congress, 1885-1985, by Pran Nath Chopra, Ram Gopal, Moti Lal Bhargava. Published by Agam Prakashan, 1986.
• The Congress Ideology and Programme, 1920-1985, by Pitambar Datt Kaushik . Published by Gitanjali Pub. House, 1986. ISBN 81-85060-16-9.
• Struggling and Ruling: The Indian National Congress, 1885-1985, by Jim Masselos. Published by Sterling Publishers, 1987.
• The Encyclopedia of Indian National Congress, by A. Moin Zaidi, Shaheda Gufran Zaidi, Indian Institute of Applied Political Research. Published by S.Chand, 1987.
• Indian National Congress: A Reconstruction, by Iqbal Singh, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. Published by Riverdale Company, 1988. ISBN 0-913215-32-5.
• INC, the Glorious Tradition, by A. Moin Zaidi, Indian National Congress. AICC. Published by Indian Institute of Applied Political Research, 1989.
• Indian National Congress: A Select Bibliography, by Manikrao Hodlya Gavit, Attar Chand. Published by U.D.H. Pub. House, 1989. ISBN 81-85044-05-8.
• The Story of Congress Pilgrimage: 1885-1985, by A. Moin Zaidi, Indian National Congress. Published by Indian Institute of Applied Political Research, 1990. ISBN 81-85355-46-0. (7 vols)
• Indian National Congress in England, by Harish P. Kaushik. Published by Friends Publications, 1991.
• Women in Indian National Congress, 1921-1931, by Rajan Mahan. Published by Rawat Publications, 1999.
• History of Indian National Congress, 1885-2002, by Deep Chand Bandhu. Published by Kalpaz Publications, 2003. ISBN 81-7835-090-4.

External links

• Indian National Congress — Official website
• Indian National Congress Discussion Group
• Congress Archives
• Congress Media
• Congress Sandesh

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Political parties in India Current national coalitions National Democratic Alliance - United Progressive Alliance Former national coalitions Janata Party - National Front - United Front - Third Front Recognised national parties Bahujan Samaj Party - Bharatiya Janata Party - Communist Party of India - Communist Party of India (Marxist) - Indian National Congress - Nationalist Congress Party Recognized state parties All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam - All India Forward Bloc - All India Trinamool Congress - All India United Democratic Front - Asom Gana Parishad - Biju Janata Dal - Bodoland People's Front -Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam - Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) - Indian National Lok Dal - Jammu & Kashmir National Conference - Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party - Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party - Janata Dal (Secular) - Janata Dal (United) - Jharkhand Mukti Morcha - Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) - Kerala Congress - Kerala Congress (Mani) - Lok Jan Shakti Party - Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party - Manipur Peoples Party - Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam - Meghalaya Democratic Party - Mizo National Front - Mizoram People's Conference - Muslim League Kerala State Committee - Nagaland People's Front - National People's Party - Pattali Makkal Katchi - Praja Rajyam Party - Pudhucherry Munnetra Congress - Rashtriya Janata Dal - Rashtriya Lok Dal - Revolutionary Socialist Party - Samajwadi Party-Shiromani Akali Dal - Shiv Sena - Sikkim Democratic Front - Telangana Rashtra Samithi - Telugu Desam Party - United Democratic Party - Uttarakhand Kranti Dal - Zoram Nationalist Party Other parties in parliament All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen - Bahujan Vikas Aaghadi - Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) - Swabhimani Paksha - Swatantra Bharat Paksh - Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katch Other unrecognized, new-born or parties with limited presence. All India Muslim Forum - Arunachal Congress - Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh - Communist Marxist Party - Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation - Democratic Socialist Party (Prabodh Chandra) - Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam - Indian Federal Democratic Party - Indian National Congress (Socialist) - Indian National League - Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra - Janathipathiya Samrakshana Samithy - Jharkhand Party - Kerala Congress (Balakrishna Pillai) - Kerala Congress (Jacob) - Kerala Congress (Secular) - Kerala People's Party - Kongunadu Munnetra Peravai - Lok Satta - Peoples Republican Party - Pragatisheel Indira Congress - Professionals Party of India - Republican Party of India (Gavai) - Republican Party of India (Athvale) - Republican Party of India (B.C. Kamble) - Republican Party of India (Democratic) - Republican Party of India (Khobragade) - Revolutionary Socialist Party (Baby John) - Revolutionary Socialist Party (Bolshevik) - Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) - United Goans Democratic Party - National Socialist Party Portal:Politics - List of political parties - Politics of India

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