The Emergence of Nationalism• India was the people of India where all the people irrespective of class, colour, caste, creed, language, or gender resides.• The British were exercising control over the resources of India.• The political associations were started forming after 1850, especially those that came into being in the 1870s and 1880s.• The important ones were the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha, the Indian Association, the Madras Mahajan Sabha, the Bombay Presidency Association, and of course the Indian National Congress.• The Arms Act was passed in 1878, disallowing Indians from possessing arms. • In the same year the Vernacular Press Act was also enacted in an effort to silence those who were critical of the government.• The Indian National Congress was established when 72 delegates from all over the country met at Bombay in December 1885.→ The early leadership – Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozeshah Mehta, Badruddin Tyabji, W.C. Bonnerji, Surendranath Banerji, Romesh Chandra Dutt, S. Subramania Iyer, among others – was largely from Bombay and Calcutta.