History of the Indian National Congress From its foundation on 28 December 1885 by A.O. Hume, a retired British officer, until the time India gained its independence on 15 August 1947, the Indian National Congress was considered to be the largest and most prominent Indian public organization, as well as the central and defining influence of the long Indian Independence Movement. After India became independent, Mahatma Gandhi asked the leaders to dissolve Indian National Congress, and to form a new organisation to govern the nation. Retired British Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer Allan Octavian Hume founded the Indian National Congress
unsuitable for Indian Muslims. When the British entered the British Indian Army into World War I, it provoked the first definitive, nationwide political debate of its kind in India. Voices calling for political independence grew in number. The divided Congress re-united in the pivotal Lucknow session in 1916, with efforts of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Tilak had considerably moderated his views, and now favoured political dialogue with the British. He, along with the young Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Mrs. Annie Besant launched the Home Rule Movement to put forth Indian demands for "Home Rule" – Indian participation
moderates led by Gokhale, who downplayed public agitation, and the new extremists who advocated agitation, and regarded the pursuit of social reform as a distraction from nationalism. Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who tried to mobilise Hindu Indians by appealing to an explicitly Hindu political identity displayed in the annual public Ganapati festivals he inaugurated in western India, was prominent among the extremists. Congress included a number of prominent political figures. Dadabhai Naoroji, a member of the sister Indian National Association, was elected president of the party in 1886 and was the first Indian Member of Parliament in the British House of
Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC, often called the Congress Party or simply Congress) is a broadly based political party in India. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa. 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. Congress led India to independence from Great Britain, and powerfully influenced other anti-colonial nationalist movements in the British Empire. Congress is a secular party whose socialdemocratic platform is generally considered to
the latter as the President of Indian National Congress at the Meerut session in 1946. J. B. Kripalani Jivatram Bhagwandas Kripalani (11 November 1888 – 19 March 1982), popularly known as Acharya Kripalani, was an Indian politician, noted particularly for holding the presidency of the Indian National Congress during the transfer of power in 1947 and the husband of Sucheta Kriplani. Kripalani was a Gandhian socialist, environmentalist, mystic and independence activist. He grew close to Gandhi and at one point, he was one of Gandhi's most ardent disciples. Kripalani was a familiar figure to generations of dissenters, from the Non-Cooperation
Who became a leader of the indian national congress?

Reference answer:
Mahatma Gandhi