Who was the Viceroy of India when the Indian National Congress was founded in 1885?

Lord Dufferin (Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood) was the Viceroy of India from 1884 to 1888. During his time, the Indian National Congress (INC) was founded.

The INC was founded at the initiative of Allan Octavian Hume, a retired British civil servant. Its first session was held from 28 to 31 December 1885 at the Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Bombay, with 72 delegates. The session was originally planned for Poona, but was moved to Bombay because of a cholera outbreak. Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee (W.C. Bonnerjee) presided over the first session. Leaders such as Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozeshah Mehta, Badruddin Tyabji, K.T. Telang and Dinshaw Wacha were among the early leaders.

There is a theory called the "safety valve theory", based on the writings of Hume's biographer William Wedderburn, which suggests that Hume and Dufferin wanted the Congress as a "safety valve" to release the growing discontent among Indians and prevent a violent revolt. Many historians, such as Bipan Chandra, consider this theory inadequate and believe that Indian leaders used Hume as a "lightning conductor", that is, to avoid official suspicion of an all-India political organisation.

Dufferin initially took a friendly attitude towards the Congress, but later dismissed it as representing only a "microscopic minority" of the people.

Other events during Dufferin's time:

• The Third Anglo-Burmese War (1885), which led to the annexation of Upper Burma in 1886.
• The Bengal Tenancy Act (1885), Punjab Tenancy Act and Awadh Tenancy Act, which gave some protection to tenants.
• The Lady Dufferin Fund (the Countess of Dufferin's Fund) was set up by his wife to provide medical care for women.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Lord Ripon was Viceroy from 1880 to 1884, just before the Congress was founded.
• ✗Lord Lansdowne was Viceroy from 1888 to 1894; the Indian Councils Act, 1892 was passed in his time.
• ✗Lord Curzon was Viceroy from 1899 to 1905.