Congress celebrates its 134th foundation day

New Delhi: Country's oldest party, Congress is celebrating it 134th Foundation Day today. The party hoisted the national flag and remembered some of its iconic leaders and freedom fighters.

“Over the last 134 years of Congress history, we have stood for justice, equality, non-violence, unity, freedom and, above all, dialogue. For all the years to come, we will continue to uphold these values and stand with the people of our country,” the party said in a tweet.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi celebrated the day by cutting a cake with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and other senior leaders of the party.

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The party said it will stand by values of non-violence, quoting in another tweet words of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, the first Home Minister of India, where he said, “the measure of our non-violence will be the measure of our success”.

In another tweet, it quoted the ideal of love and sacrifice for the country espoused by Sarojini Naidu, an eminent poetess, freedom fighter and Congress leader.

The Congress was founded in 1885 by a British civil servant Allan Octavian Hume. Hume was a celebrated ornithologist and is considered to be the Father of Indian Ornithology.

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ABOUT ALLAN OCTAVIAN HUME

- Hume was a member of the Imperial Civil Service (later the Indian Civil Service), a political reformer, ornithologist and botanist who worked in British India.

- He was one of the founders of the Indian National Congress.

- As an administrator of Etawah, he saw the Indian Rebellion of 1857 as a result of misgovernance and made great efforts to improve the lives of the common people.

- He founded the journal Stray Feathers in which he and his subscribers recorded notes on birds from across India.