Question

Which of the following leaders was not present in the very first meeting of the Indian national congress?
A) Dadabhai Naoroji
B) Kashinath Trimbak Telang
C) Pherozeshah Mehta
D) Surendranath Banerjee

Answer 1

Hint: The Indian National Congress Party is an entrenched political party in India. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement that emerged in Asia and Africa in the British Empire. From the end of the 1920s, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian National Congress had become the main leader of India’s independence movement

Complete answer:
The first meeting of the Indian National Congress was organised by Allan Octavian Hume. The meeting was organized to be in Poona but due to the outbreak of Cholera disease, it was shifted to Bombay. It was conducted from 28th to 31st of December.

It witnessed attendance from 72 delegates representing the various provinces of the country. These delegates included Dadabhai Naoroji, a political leader and scholar, who is also known as “Old Indian” and “Unofficial Ambassador of India”, Kashinath Trimbak Telang, Indian judge and Oriental scholar, Pherozeshah Mehta, an Indian Parsi politician and lawyer from Mumbai, Ganesh Vasudeo Joshi, William Wedderburn etc.

Surendranath Banerjee, though he was a founding member of the Indian National Congress, was absent from the first session of the Indian National Congress. Surendranath Banerjee was in Calcutta for the second session of the National Conference in 1885. Immediately after its conclusion, the first session of the Indian National Congress was held on 28th December 1885 in Bombay, and hence he could not be in Bombay to attend this session.

Thus, the correct answer is option (D) Surendranath Banerjee.

Note: Surendranath Banerjee was the first Indian journalist to be imprisoned. INC expanded in scale and hundreds of representatives from all over India came to attend the annual meeting held in Kolkata. Once he had founded the Indian National Assembly in Bombay in 1885, Surendranath merged his organization with it in 1886 because of their common goals and membership.