How did the Indian National Congress win support and what part did it play in ending British rule? The Indian Independence Act of 1947 marked a watershed upon the history of India and imperialism, predicating the protracted, but evident, retreat of empire. A body of influences are readily available in providing a depth of understanding of the event; it is, however, the permeating legacy of the Indian national congress that has been routinely identified as a political organisation synonymous with the departure of empire and colonialism. The remit of this essay focuses our attention upon the development and narrative of the Indian National Congress, and the use of its political structure in exercising and mobilising nationalist sentiments throughout the Asian subcontinent. Although instrumental and inherently central to the discussion of Indian independence, one must retain an open and wider view of the multitude of pressures, from within and without, that ultimately led to British withdrawal. It would be prudent therefore to accommodate the international economic and political circumstances that restricted the manoeuvrability of the British following the Second World War, and its noticeable influence upon the retreat of imperialism, upon the wider discussion of the end of British rule. Although providing the structure of national identity, the degree to which the congress had a direct impact upon the redirection of imperial policy is subject to speculation. The narrative of the Congress developing into an organisation, during the interwar period, that directed a mass nationalist movement is nevertheless fundamental to the discussion of the end of imperialism in India. Despite the inherent structural weaknesses of British control over the subcontinent, the role of the Congress in mobilising the masses as a political instrument was significant in the