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Congress (I)

Indian National Congress
President Sonia Gandhi
Parliamentary Chairperson Sonia Gandhi
Lok Sabha leader Mallikarjun Kharge
Rajya Sabha leader Ghulam Nabi Azad
Founder Allan Octavian Hume
Dadabhai Naoroji
Dinshaw Wacha
Founded 28 December 1885 (131 years ago) (1885-12-28)
Headquarters 24, Akbar Road, New Delhi 110001
Newspaper Congress Sandesh
Student wing National Students Union of India
Youth wing Indian Youth Congress
Women's wing Mahila Congress
Labour wing Indian National Trade Union Congress
Minority wing Minority Congress
Membership c. 20 million
Ideology Social democracy
Democratic socialism
Social liberalism
Gandhian socialism
Secularism
Progressivism
Political position Centre-left
International affiliation Progressive Alliance
Socialist International
Colours      Sky blue
ECI Status National Party
Alliance United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
Seats in Lok Sabha
45 / 545
(currently 543 members + 1 Speaker)
Seats in Rajya Sabha
60 / 245
(currently 244 members)
Election symbol
Hand INC.svg
Website
www.inc.in

The Indian National Congress (About this sound pronunciation ) (INC, often called Congress) is a broad-based political party in India. Founded in 1885, the Congress led India to independence from Great Britain, and powerfully influenced other anti-colonial nationalist movements in the British Empire. After India's independence in 1947, the Congress formed the government at center in most instances, and also many regional state governments. The Congress is a secular, left-of-centre, party. Although it did not fare well in the last general elections in India in 2014, it remains one of two major, nationwide, political parties in India, along with the right-wing, Hindu nationalist, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Congress was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa. It was founded in Bombay in late December 1885, during the British Raj in India. Its principal founders were, Allan Octavian Hume (a former administrator of Etawah district, North-Western Provinces, and pioneering ornithologist of India), as well as William Wedderburn, Pherozeshah Mehta, Dadabhai Naoroji, Dinshaw Wacha, and others. From the late 19th-century, and especially after 1920, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, Congress became the principal leader of the Indian independence movement, with over 15 million members and over 70 million participants.


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