Emergence of the branches of the Indian National Congress in Great Britain (1885-1889)

By the early 1880s, Indian nationalists felt the need to create a unified national organization. Such an organization was the Indian National Congress; one of its tasks was the dissemination of Indian propaganda in the UK. An important role in this process was played by British members of Congress (Allan Octavian Hume, William Wedderburn, etc). In 1885, at the suggestion of Hume the Indian Telegraph Union was created, but soon fell apart due to a lack of funding. In 1886, one of the most prominent Indian leaders, Dadabhai Naoroji, came to the United Kingdom with an aim to get a seat in parliament or contribute to the development of the Indian national movement in other ways. In London, he met with journalist William Digby, with whom he begins to work on the creation of the Indian political agency, a British organization of Indian nationalists. Indian nationalists in the UK faced a triple challenge: the creation of the Indian parliamentary committee, the organization of public meetings around the country and the creation of a printed organ of the Congress in the UK. The Indian political agency was created in 1888, its task was to organize meetings with the British liberals, clarification of the requirements of the Indian nationalists and publish their works and materials of Congress sessions. The Indian political agency consisted of two sections, one of which was headed by Dadabhai Naoroji, directly subordinated to the leadership of the Congress, and the second, headed by W. Digby, worked independently, not only expressing the opinion of the Congress, but also of other Indian organizations. The main difficulties in the work of the Indian political agencies were the lack of funding and opposition from the Council of the Secretary of State for India and pro-government English press. Lack of funds for a long time did not allow the Indian nationalists to organize the publication of the organ of the Congress in the UK, and the two separate sections of the Indian political agency caused difficulties in the financing of the organization. In these circumstances, the leadership of the Congress decided to reorganize the political work in the metropolis. In July 1889, the Indian political agency was reorganized into the British Committee Congress which obeyed to the leadership of the Congress. Chairman of the committee was William Wedderburn, William Digby was elected secretary of the organization. In December 1889, at the session of the INC the establishment of the British Committee of the Indian National Congress was officially proclaimed. Resolution XIII, adopted at the session, regulated the composition and financing of the department. Thus, there was the finalization of the creation of the UK branch of the Congress, in which a significant role was played by the British members of Congress.

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