Query: The Indian National Congress was founded in 1885, during the British Raj.

Relevant passages:
Indian National Congress <=SEP=> The Indian National Congress ( 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 .   After independence in 1947 , Congress became India 's dominant political party ; , in the 15 general elections since independence , it has won an outright majority on six occasions and has led the ruling coalition a further four times , heading the central government for 49 years . There have been seven Congress Prime Ministers , the first being Jawaharlal Nehru ( 1947 -- 64 ) , and the most recent Manmohan Singh ( 2004 -- 14 ) . The party 's social liberal platform is generally considered to be on the centre-left of Indian politics .   From 2004 to 2014 , the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance , a coalition of several regional parties , formed the Indian government and was headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh . As of March 2017 , the party is in power in five states : Punjab , Himachal Pradesh , Karnataka , Meghalaya and Mizoram . In Bihar , it is a part of the ruling coalition . The Congress has previously directly ruled Andhra Pradesh , Tamil Nadu , Gujarat , Madhya Pradesh , Rajasthan , Uttar Pradesh and Goa . In the 2014 general election , the Congress had its poorest post-independence general election performance , winning only 44 seats of the 543-member house .   The Congress ' social policy is based upon the Gandhian principle of Sarvodaya -- the lifting up of all sections of society -- which involves the improvement of the lives of economically underprivileged and socially marginalised people . The party primarily endorses social liberalism -- seeking to balance individual liberty and social justice , and secularism -- asserting the right to be free from religious rule and teachings .

British Raj <=SEP=> Infobox former country  | conventional_long_name =  | common_name = India  | continent = Asia  | region = Indian subcontinent  | status =  | p1 = Company rule in India  | flag_p1 = Flag of the British East India Company ( 1801 ) . svg  | p2 = Emirate of Afghanistan  | flag_p2 = Flag of Afghanistan.svg  | s1 = Dominion of India  | flag_s1 = Flag of India.svg  | s2 = Dominion of Pakistan  | flag_s2 = Flag of Pakistan.svg  | s3 = British rule in Burma  | flag_s3 = British Burma 1937 flag.svg  | s4 = Trucial States  | flag_s4 = Flag of the Trucial States.svg  | s5 = Colony of Aden  | flag_s5 = Flag of the Colony of Aden.svg  | s6 = Straits Settlements  | flag_s6 = Flag_of_the_British_Straits_Settlements _ ( 1874-1942 ) . svg  | image_flag = British Raj Red Ensign.svg  | flag = Star of India ( flag )  | image_coat = Star-of-India-gold-centre . svg  | symbol_type = Star of India  | symbol = Star of India ( flag )  | national_anthem = God Save the King/Queen <center>  | image_map = British Indian empire in 1936 . png  | image_map_caption = The British Indian Empire in 1936 .  | capital =  | common_languages =   The British Raj ( -LSB- rɑːdʒ -RSB- from rāj , literally , `` rule '' in Hindustani ) was the rule by the British Crown in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947 . The rule is also called Crown rule in India , or direct rule in India . The region under British control was commonly called India in contemporaneous usage , and included areas directly administered by the United Kingdom , which were collectively called British India , and those ruled by indigenous rulers , but under British tutelage or paramountcy , and called the princely states . The resulting political union was also called the British Indian Empire and after 1876 issued passports under that name .  As India , it was a founding member of the League of Nations , a participating nation in the Summer Olympics in 1900 , 1920 , 1928 , 1932 , and 1936 , and a founding member of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945 .   This system of governance was instituted on 28 June 1858 , when , after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 , the rule of the British East India Company was transferred to the Crown in the person of Queen Victoria ( who , in 1876 , was proclaimed Empress of India ) . As a state , the British Empire in India functioned as if it saw itself as the guardian of a system of connected markets maintained by means of military power , business legislation and monetary management . It lasted until 1947 , when the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two sovereign dominion states : the Dominion of India ( later the Republic of India ) and the Dominion of Pakistan ( later the Islamic Republic of Pakistan , the eastern part of which , still later , became the People 's Republic of Bangladesh ) . At the inception of the Raj in 1858 , Lower Burma was already a part of British India ; Upper Burma was added in 1886 , and the resulting union , Burma , was administered as an autonomous province until 1937 , when it became a separate British colony , gaining its own independence in 1948 .