The President of the ‘British Indian Association’ was ‘Raja Radhakanta Deb’. The British India Association is an amalgamation of ‘Landholder’s Society’ and ‘British India Society’ on October 31, 1851.
It was the first Political Organization of its type which brought the Indians together. ‘Debendranath Tagore’ was the first Secretary of ‘British Indian Association’ and the other members include in the association are ‘Ramgopal Ghosh’, ‘Peary Chand Mitra’, ‘Krishnadas Pal’, and many more. The formation of this association was the first initiative by the Indians which showed that no longer Indians could be ignored. As it developed hopes among people for their better future hope.
The Association tried their hands to remove the existing leadership defects in the laws and civil administration of the country. Their main motto was to promote greater welfare of the Indians. The Association even demanded of two-thirds of Indian representative in the Legislative Council. The Association even protested against the government’s restriction on Higher Education in the year 1879.
The Association has their newspaper as well for the society on the name of “Hindu Patriot”. The newspaper strictly follows the critical political tone. The Editor of newspaper Hindu Patriot was ‘Harish Chandra Mukherjee’. In 1852, during the upcoming Charter Act, the association send their delegates to England.
Firstly, the Association was established in Pune, later extended their headquarters in Madras and Bombay. The British India Association has been criticized by many subsequent political stalwarts. The association failed to achieve its target and faced numerous criticism with its associate’s as well. The association failed to cover the whole country with a network of a number of branches. But the British Indian Association works as an initiative to promote political mind-structure of India and make a more effective organization, so the ‘Indian National Congress’ came into existence in 1885.
