The history exaggerates itself in totality hitherto: the origin, objectives, the leaders hailing from all the regions of India-a book that glorifies the party, congress in terms of past and present times overtaking the latent evils of dynasty-Dom.

Tracing the history of the Indian National Congress from its founding in 1885 until about 1905, Professor McLane analyzes its efforts to build a national community and to obtain fundamental reforms from the British. In so doing, he extends our understanding of the dynamics of Indian pluralism. In its first two decades of existence, the Congress failed to inspire sacrifices from its members or to attract Muslims or Indians without an English education. The author explains this early stagnation in terms of developments within the Congress as well as outside in Indian society. Originally published in 1978. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

"Great movements are like great rivers--they start as small streams, but if the cause is great, they draw to themselves many streams, joining together to achieve and reach their destination. And so it was with the Indian National Congress, which met for the first time with a 'microscopic minority' of seventy-two people in Bombay on the 28th December, 1885. It went on to challenge the mightiest empire of the time, using the slogan of peace and the method of non-violence. Led by men and women of extraordinary intellect, courage and commitment, it shaped the destiny of modern India in the twentieth century, and leads India as a global power in the twenty-first century. Commemorating 125 years of the Indian National Congress, this volume unfolds, page after page, the saga of struggle, sacrifice and nation-building. A lucid commentary, enlivened further by rare photographs and archival material, it offers the reader a pictorial glimpse of the epic journey that began in 1885. This is indeed, the journey of a nation ..."--Publisher's website.