It is the largest and oldest democratic political party in the world. 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 and William Wedderburn, the Indian National Congress became the leade
r 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. 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.
