The Sepoy Mutiny or the first national revolt of 1857 is considered as marking the beginning of modern period in Indian history. The Indian sepoys in the service of British revolted due to inequality and harsh treatment meted out to them by their British superior officers. The disgruntled Indian rulers even had their scores to settle with the British in India . The sepoys with the help of some Indian rules revolted, by declaring the last Mughal ruler Bahadur Shah Jaffer as the emperor of India . In-spite of the fact that the revolt was suppressed by the British ruthlessly, it had far-reaching influence on the Indian psyche. The revolt sowed the seeds of freedom, equality and right to self-determination in the minds of Indians. The English educated Indians soon rose to the occasion and started a people oriented struggle for the liberation of the country from the British domination.

This triggered off the national movement, with Congress taking the lead role in organizing hartals, bandhs, and boycott of all that is British. Freedom struggle got the needful surge with the entry of Mahatma Gandhi, who having experimented with his satyagraha and non-violent struggle against foreign rule in South Africa , implemented the same in India , to finally bring independence to India on 15th August, 1947. But all at the cost of a divided India , with religion become the basis of Independence .

(Indian National Congress-I (also known as the Congress Party and the abbreviation INC) is a major political party in India. Founded in 1885 by AO Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji and Sir Dinshaw Edulji Wacha, the Indian National Congress of the nation has become a leader in the movement for independence, with more than 15 million Indians involved in their organizations, and more than 70 million participants in its struggle against the British Empire. After independence in 1947, it became the nation's dominant political party, only challenged for the leadership in the past decades. At the 14th Lok Sabha (2004-2009), 145 INC members, the largest contingent among all parties, serve in the house. The party is currently the main member of the United Progressive Alliance ruling coalition supported by the Left Front.

The history of the Indian National Congress is divided into two distinct periods:

* The days before independence, when the party was at the forefront of the struggle for independence;
* The post-independence era, when the party has enjoyed an important place in the Indian polity, in power in the country for 48 of 60 years since independence in 1947.)