Answer to Question #222035 in History for Khusi

Question

In its Political Behavior the Indian National Congress in its Early Career was never a radical
organization, beside the founders of the congress involved A.O Hume in the Project. Do these
facts verify that the congress was found as a ‘Safety valve’? Explain

Answer 1

Those facts verify that the Congress was found as a 'safety valve.' According to the Safety Valve Theory, the Indian National Congress was created by AO Hume, a retired Indian Civil Service officer under the guidance of Lord Dufferin as a safety valve to the growing dissent amongst Indian masses against the British Raj.

The theory was propagated by many anti-Congress and right-wing groups like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Mahasabha.

However, it was first suggested by the WC Bonnerjee, the person who chaired the first-ever Congress Assembly, in his book Indian Politics, but it was the Lala Lajpat Rai who first openly wrote about the safety valve origin of the Indian National Congress. In his article published in Young India 1916, he alleged, "Congress was started more with the object of saving the British Empire from the danger than with that of winning political liberty for India. The interest of the British Empire was primary and those of India only secondary."