SSC
'Vande Mataram' was sung for the first time at a session of the Indian National Congress in 1896 at Calcutta, presided over by:
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Answer: Option B — Rahimtulla M. Sayani
Detailed Solution
Sayani. "Vande Mataram" was sung for the first time at a Congress session in 1896, at the Calcutta session, which was presided over by Rahimtulla Muhammad Sayani.
The song at the Congress session:
- It was sung by Rabindranath Tagore, who had set it to music.
- This was the first time that the song was sung at a political gathering on an all-India level.
About "Vande Mataram":
- It was written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, probably in the 1870s, and included in his novel "Anandamath" (1882).
- It is written in Sanskritised Bengali, and is a hymn to the motherland as a goddess.
- It became the anthem of the Swadeshi Movement (1905), and the slogan "Vande Mataram" was raised in protests.
- The British tried to ban the singing of the song and the use of the slogan in some places.
- The Constituent Assembly later adopted it as the national song of India, with equal status to the national anthem.
About Rahimtulla M. Sayani:
- He was born in 1847 in Bombay, in a Khoja Muslim family.
- He was a lawyer and a member of the Bombay Municipal Corporation and the Bombay Legislative Council.
- He was one of the founder members of the Indian National Congress, and attended its first session in 1885.
- He was the second Muslim President of the Congress (Calcutta, 1896).
- He believed in the unity of Hindus and Muslims, and urged Muslims to join the Congress.
- He died in 1902.
Early Muslim Presidents of the Congress:
- The first Muslim President was elected in 1887 (Madras session).
- Sayani (1896) was the second.
- Syed Hasan Imam (1918) and others came later.
Why not the other options?
Dadabhai Naoroji, Surendranath Banerjea and W. C. Bonnerjee presided over other sessions.
Quick tip
Remember: "Vande Mataram" first sung at a Congress session = Calcutta, 1896 (President Rahimtulla M. Sayani; sung by Tagore).
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Indian National Congress & Its Sessions — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Indian National Congress & Its Sessions, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
The Indian National Congress was founded in 1885 by A. O. Hume, and its first session was held in Bombay under W. C. Bonnerjee. This topic covers the important Congress sessions and their presidents, the moderate and extremist phases, the Surat split, and the founding and role of the Muslim League. Questions commonly ask who presided over a session, where a session was held, or what was decided there. For example, the 1929 Lahore session under Jawaharlal Nehru adopted the goal of Purna Swaraj, and the 1931 Karachi session passed the resolution on Fundamental Rights. The first woman president of the Congress was Annie Besant (Calcutta, 1917). Practise the Indian National Congress questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.