Question

Who founded the Indian National Congress?
A. Sir A.O. Hume
B. Bal Gangadhar Tilak
C. Gopal Krishna Gokhale
D. Mahatma Gandhi

Answer 1

Hint:Indian National Congress, one of the world's largest and oldest political parties of its kind, was founded on December 28, 1885. The party was founded by a British member of the Imperial Civil Service.

Complete answer:
Indian National Congress, one of the world's largest and oldest political parties of its kind, was founded on December 28, 1885, by British civil servant Sir Allan Octavian Hume.
In December 1884, after a Theosophical convention in Madras, Sir Allan Octavian Hume presided over a private meeting with 17 men. In this meeting, the idea of forming the Indian National Congress was formulated.
In its early days, the party was not formed to grant independence from British rule. It was rather established to bring together a group of educated individuals on the same platform to regulate policymaking.
The first meeting of the Congress had to take place at Poona (now Pune). However, the event was shifted to Bombay (now Mumbai) due to a cholera outbreak. To hold the meeting, Hume had to get the approval of the then Viceroy “Lord Dufferin”. The first president of the First Congress meeting was Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, also known as Umesh Chandra Banerjee. The meeting included 72 other delegates.
After its formation, in the first two decades, a group of leaders who came to be known as the 'Moderates' dominated the Congress. They preferred orderly progress and constitutional agitation. But by 1907, a rival group, the 'Extremists', who adopted a more aggressive approach towards British rule, also came into visibility.

Thus, the correct answer is option (A) Sir A.O. Hume.

Note:The Congress elected Mahatma Gandhi as the president in 1921 after he returned from South Africa in 1914. By the end of the First World War in 1919, Gandhiji became the spiritual figurehead and idol of the party.