The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party or simply the Congress, is a political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December, 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa.[a][30] From the late 19th century, and especially after 1920, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress became the principal leader of the Indian independence movement.[31] The Congress led India to independence from the United Kingdom,[b][32][c][33] and significantly influenced other anti-colonial nationalist movements in the British Empire. Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, alongside the Bharatiya Janata Party.[34] It is a "big tent" party whose platform is generally considered to lie in the political centre of Indian politics.[9][19][35] The Party held its first session in 1885 in Bombay where W.C. Bonnerjee presided over it.[36] After Indian independence in 1947, Congress emerged as a catch-all and secular party, dominating Indian politics for the next 50 years. The party's first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, led the Congress to support socialist policies by creating the Planning Commission, introducing Five-Year Plans, implementing a mixed economy, and establishing a secular state. After Nehru's death and the short tenure of Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi became the leader of the party. In the 17 general elections since independence, it has won an outright majority on seven occasions and has led the ruling coalition a further three times, heading the central government for more than 54 years. There have been six Prime Ministers from the Congress party, the first being Jawaharlal Nehru (1947–1964), and the most recent being Manmohan Singh (2004–2014)....