ABSTRACT
O N T H E E V E O F T H E C O N G R E S S
“ No Indian,” said M r. Gokhale in London in 1913 , “ could have started the Indian National Congress. Apart from the fact that anyone putting his hand to such a gigantic task had need to have Mr. Hume’s commanding personality, even if an Indian had possessed such a personality and had come forward to start such a movement, embracing all India, the officials would not have allowed it to come into existence. I f the founder of the Congress had not been a great Englishman and a distinguished ex official, such was the distrust of political agitation in those days that the authorities would have at once found some way or the other of suppressing the movement.” 1
We have here the evidence of Mr. G. K. Gokhale with regard to the founding of the Congress, and this view has been generally accepted as accurate. Undoubtedly Mr. A. O. Hume was the driving force; and the name “ Father of the Congress,” which has been sometimes given to him, is fairly correct. At the same time, other very important factors were at work which helped M r. A. O. Hume in his task.
