The Indian National Congress () (INC, often called Congress) is a broad-based political party in India. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa. From the late 19th-century, and especially after 1920, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, Congress became the principal leader of the Indian independence movement, with over 15 million members and over 70 million participants. The Congress led India to independence from Great Britain, and powerfully influenced other anti-colonial nationalist movements in the British Empire. 

The Congress is a secular party whose social liberal platform is generally considered on the centre-left of Indian politics. The Congress' social policy is based upon the Gandhian principle of Sarvodaya—the lifting up of all sections of society—which involves the improvement of the lives of economically underprivileged and socially marginalised people. The party primarily endorses social liberalism — seeking to balance individual liberty and social justice, and secularism — asserting the right to be free from religious rule and teachings. 

After India's independence in 1947, the Congress formed the government at center in most instances, and many regional state governments. Congress became India's dominant political party; , in the 15 general elections since independence, it has won an outright majority on six occasions and has led the ruling coalition a further four times, heading the central government for 49 years. There have been seven Congress Prime Ministers, the first being Jawaharlal Nehru (1947–64), and the most recent Manmohan Singh (2004–14). Although it did not fare well in the last general elections in India in 2014, it remains one of two major, nationwide, political parties in India, along with the right-wing, Hindu nationalist, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). In the 2014 general election, the Congress had its poorest post-independence general election performance, winning only 44 seats of the 543-member Lok Sabha.
what are they?
 along with the right-wing, Hindu nationalist, Bhartiya Janata Party