Previous Year Question

The 1906 Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress was presided over by Dadabhai Naoroji. The session was highly significant in the history of the Congress because it marked an expansion of nationalist political demands.

At this session, Swaraj was explicitly presented from the Congress platform as a political objective for the first time. In his presidential address, Dadabhai Naoroji placed before the Congress the demand for Swaraj or Self-Government.

Following the Partition of Bengal in 1905, the Swadeshi and Boycott Movements had rapidly expanded. Against this background, the demands made at the Calcutta Session of 1906 became broader and more explicit than before.

Important resolutions relating to Swaraj, Swadeshi, Boycott and National Education were adopted at this session. These four programmes subsequently became important elements of nationalist politics.

It is useful to distinguish this from the Banaras Session of 1905, which was presided over by Gopal Krishna Gokhale and supported the Swadeshi Movement; however, the demand for Swaraj was prominently voiced from the Congress platform for the first time at Calcutta in 1906.