Consider the following statement: No Indian could have started the Indian National Congress ... if the founder of the Congress had not been a great Englishman and a distinguished ex-official, such was the distrust of political agitation in those days that the authority would have at once found some way or the other to suppress the movement. Who among the following gave the statement on the establishment of Indian National Congress?

The statement regarding the necessity of a British founder for the Indian National Congress was made by Gopal Krishna Gokhale in 1913 [1]. Gokhale argued that if an Indian had attempted to start such an all-India movement, the colonial authorities would have immediately suppressed it due to the intense distrust of political agitation at the time [1]. By having Allan Octavian Hume, a distinguished former British official, as the founder, the movement gained a degree of legitimacy that acted as a 'lightning conductor' [1]. This theory suggests that early nationalist leaders like Gokhale, Naoroji, and Ranade strategically used Hume's status to protect the fledgling organization from official hostility [1]. While R.P. Dutt proposed the 'Safety Valve' theory and Lala Lajpat Rai also discussed Hume's role, the specific quote provided in the question is attributed to Gokhale [1].

Sources

1. [1] Rajiv Ahir. A Brief History of Modern India (2019 ed.). SPECTRUM. > Chapter 11: Indian National Congress: Foundation and the Moderate Phase > Summary > p. 256