Who founded the Hindu Mela and when?

a. Foundation of Hindu Mela am Indian Association:

Hindu Mela was founded in 1867 by Nabagopal Mitra.

The Hindu Mela was also known as the Chaitra Mela.

In 1876 (26 July ) at the Albert Hall in Calcutta (Present Kolkata ) Indian Association was formed by Surendranath Banerjee in association with Anandamohan Basu and Dwarakanath Ganguly.

b. Success of the Indian Association:

The Indian Association was founded with the purpose of representation of the middle class as also the ryots in the political life of Bengal.

Surendranath categorically stated that the Indian Association would give the middle class young men a political life of their own on a democratic basis.

The Indian Association as a political body sought to work in co-operation with political association in other provinces. The Indian Association started an all-out campaign against the reduction of the maximum limit of age from 21 to 19 for the examination of the Indian Civil Service.

The propaganda in various forms proved a great success and helped to strengthen the Indian nationalism. The Indian Association also launched a movement for development of the local self-government.

Even the Indian Association demanded elected representatives in the district boards and municipalities. Also the Indian Association upheld peasants’ rights.

The Indian Association continued to take up political issues of the contemporary period and started agitations. It organized agitations against the Vernacular Press Act (1878) and Arms Act (1878). The Indian Association launched a vigorous movement in the form of a counter campaign against the Ilbert Bill. Here in this movement the Indian Association suffered a humiliating defeat as Lord Ripon had to modify the Bill.

In spite of this the Indian Association in the following years set for a bigger movement for the fulfillment of the hopes and aspirations of the Indian people.