British Indian Association was a political organization in the 19th century in India. Its rival was the

Indian National Association The Indian Association was the first avowed nationalist organization founded in British India by Surendranath Banerjee and Ananda Mohan Bose in 1876. The objectives of this Association were "promoting by every legitimate means the political, in ...

History

British Indian Association was established on 29 October 1851 in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

with

Radhakanta Deb Raja Sir Radhakanta Deb Bahadur ( bn, রাজা রাধাকান্ত দেব; 10 March 1784 – 19 April 1867) was a scholar and a leader of the Calcutta conservative Hindu society, son of Gopimohan Deb of Shovabazar Raj who was the ...

as its first President. The first general secretary of the association was

Debendranath Tagore Debendranath Tagore (15 May 1817 – 19 January 1905) was an Indian Hindu philosopher and religious reformer, active in the Brahmo Samaj (earlier called Bhramho Sabha) ("Society of Brahma", also translated as ''Society of God''). He joined Brahm ...

. The association was exclusively composed of Indians and it worked towards increasing the welfare of Indians. Its members included

Kristo Das Pal Kristo Das Pal ( bn, কৃষ্ণদাস পাল; 1838 – 24 July 1884), was an Indian journalist, orator and the editor of the '' Hindoo Patriot''. In spite of being born of the Teli or oil-men's caste, which ranks low in the Hindu socia ...

Peary Chand Mitra Peary Chand Mitra (22 July 1814 – 23 November 1883) was an Indian writer, journalist, cultural activist and entrepreneur. His pseudonym was Tek Chand Thakur. He was a member of Henry Derozio's Young Bengal group, who played a leading role ...

, and

Ramgopal Ghosh Ramgopal Ghosh (January 15, 1815 - 25 January 1868) was a leader of the Young Bengal Group, a successful businessman, orator and social reformer. He is called the 'Demosthenes of India'.Sengupta, Subodh Chandra and Bose, Anjali (editors), 1976/1 ...

. The British Indian Association placed a number of demands before the British parliament that included education of Indians, removing monopoly of the East India Trading Company, support for Indian manufacturers, and inclusion of Indians in the civil service. Their demands would later be adopted by the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

.The British Indian Association ceased operations in 1954 when the Zamindari system was abolished in India.

References

{{reflist 1838 establishments in India Bengal Renaissance 1954 disestablishments in India