The British Committee of the Indian National Congress: objectives and results

Since its origin, activities of the Indian National Congress in the UK were one of the main purposes of the organization. In July 1889, the British Committee of the Indian National Congress was founded. In September 1889, A.O. Hume, in a confidential letter to the Congress leadership, determined the directions of the Committee's work. These directions included publishing and distribution of the annual reports of the Indian National Congress, answers to objections in the British press. The second direction was work with the Parliament and with the government. The third direction was the organization of meetings to draw attention of the British public to the Indian problems and demands. In February 1890, the journal India was founded. For several years it was published irregularly due to financial problems, but in 1892 it became monthly and in 1898 weekly. The journal included excerpts from the Indian and British newspapers, news from India, reviews of the Congress' sessions, interviews with the Indian politicians, who have visited England, reports of the parliamentary debates on Indian matters and book reviews. The journal had a great value for the Indian propaganda in the UK. An invitation of Charles Bradlaugh to the 1889 Congress session in Bombay was the first step in the parliamentary work of the British Committee. The next was the foundation of the Indian Parliamentary Committee. Its initiator was W. Wedder-burn. Through Wedderburn the situation in India received a wide coverage in the Parliament. In 1906, H. Cotton became a member of the Commons. Under his leadership there was formed an opposition to the decision of the partition of Bengal. This period was the time of a very vigorous activity of the Indian Parliamentary Committee. In the same year Indian agitators in the Parliament raised an issue of the conditions of Indians in South Africa. The third direction of the work of the British Committee was the connection with the liberal public institutions in the UK. The Committee dealt with the Indian delegations to England. Their purpose was to draw attention of the British public to the Indian problems and demands. Nevertheless, sometimes the activities of the British Committee of the Indian National Congress did not find support in India. The differences between moderates and extremists led to the dissolution of the Committee in 1921. But despite this, at the early stage of the Indian National Congress history the British Committee played an important role in the transformation of the Congress into the leading force of the national movement.

Keywords

Authors

References