| Place / Year |
President |
Significance |
| Bombay, 1885 |
Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee |
First Session, Congress stated its objectives |
| Madras, 1887 |
Syed Badruddin Tayabji |
Tyabji became the first Muslim President; an appeal was made to Muslims to join other national leaders. |
| Allahabad, 1888 |
George Yule |
Yule became the first English President. |
| Calcutta, 1890 |
Pherozeshah Mehta |
Decision was taken to organise a session of congress in London |
| Calcutta, 1896 |
Rahimtullah Sayani |
National Song Vande Mataram sang for the first time by Rabindranath Tagore |
| Madras, 1898 |
Anand Mohan Bose |
Social reform was set as the main goal |
| Calcutta, 1901 |
Dinshaw E. Wacha |
First time Gandhiji appeared on the Congress platform. |
| Benaras, 1905 |
Gopal Krishna Gokhale |
Formal proclamation of Swadeshi against Government. |
| Calcutta, 1906 |
Dadabhai Naoroji |
‘Swaraj’ mentioned for the first time; Four resolutions adopted on- Swaraj, Boycott movement, National Education and Swadeshi |
| Surat, 1907 |
Rash Behari Ghosh |
Split in Congress into the Moderates and Extremists |
| Madras, 1908 |
Rash Behari Ghosh |
The Constitution of Congress was drawn |
| Lahore, 1909 |
Madan Mohan Malaviya |
Disapproved the formation of separate electorates based on religion (Indian Councils Act, 1909) |
| Calcutta, 1911 |
B.N. Dhar |
First-time recital of Jan Gan Man in a Congress session |
| Lucknow, 1916 |
A.C. Majumdar |
Extremists re-admitted into the Congress fold. The pact between Congress and Muslim League to build political consensus |
| Calcutta, 1917 |
Annie Besant |
Mrs Besant became the first woman president of Congress. |
| Amritsar, 1919 |
Motilal Nehru |
Congress extended support to Khilafat movement |
| Nagpur, 1920 |
C. Vijayaraghavachariar |
Gandhian program was adopted.Framing of a new constitution for the CongressReconstitution of working committees of congress on a Linguistic basis. |
| Ahmedabad, 1921 |
C.R. Das (in prison) Hakim Ajmal Khan (acting president) |
Hasrat Mohani demanded complete independence |
| Gaya, 1922 |
C.R. Das |
Congress-khilafat swaraj party was formed with C.R. Das as president and Motilal Nehru as one of the secretaries. |
| Belgaum, 1924 |
M.K. Gandhi |
Swarajists and No Changers came together. Only session headed by Gandhi. |
| Kanpur, 1925 |
Sarojini Naidu |
Sarojini Naidu became first Indian women president of Congress |
| Madras, 1927 |
M.A. Ansari |
The Independence resolution by Nehru and Bose was passed, decision to boycott the Simon commission |
| Calcutta, 1928 |
Motilal Nehru |
Formation of All India Youth Congress |
| Lahore, 1929 |
Jawahar Lal Nehru |
Poorna swaraj resolution was passed. Pledge for Independence Day on 26, January 1930. Civil disobedience movement to be launched for complete Independence |
| Karachi, 1931 |
Vallabhbhai Patel |
Gandhi-Irwin’s pact was endorsed. Resolution for Fundamental Rights, Duties and National Economic Program Gandhi was nominated to represent INC in the Second Round Table Conference. |
| Bombay, 1934 |
Rajendra Prasad |
Formation of Congress Socialist party, Amendment in constitution of Congress |
| Lucknow, 1936 |
Jawahar Lal Nehru |
Nehru urged Congress to adopt socialism through democracy as its goal |
| Faizpur, 1937 |
Jawahar Lal Nehru |
First session to be held in Village. Demand for Constituent Assembly.Rejected Government of India Act, 1935A Resolution was passed for All-India Agrarian Program. |
| Haripura, 1938 |
Subhash Chandra Bose |
National Planning Committee set under Nehru. Purna Swaraj to cover princely states as well |
| Tripuri, 1939 |
Subhash Chandra Bose |
Bose resigned due to differences with Gandhi. Rajendra Prasad became president of INC. Bose formed the Forward Bloc. Resolution was passed where congress gave up its restrained attitude towards state peoples’ movement |
| Meerut, 1946 |
Acharya J.B. Kripalani |
Last session before Independence. Acharya Kripalani was the president of INC at the independence. |
