Correct Answer:
B. 1885, Allan Octavian Hume
The Indian National Congress (INC) was formed in 1885 and was founded by a retired British civil servant, Allan Octavian Hume. Its primary objective was to create a platform for civic and political dialogue among educated Indians. Option B correctly identifies both the year and the founder. While Dadabhai Naoroji was a prominent early leader and president of the INC, he was not its founder. Gokhale and Tilak were influential figures in later periods, and 1905 was the year of the partition of Bengal, not the INC's formation.