Surendranath Banerjee was the founder of the Indian Association. He was one of the earliest Indian political leaders during the British Raj. He founded the Indian Association in 1876, through which he led two sessions of the Indian National Conference in 1883 and 1885, along with Anandamohan Bose. Banerjee later became a senior leader of the Indian National Congress. Surendranath also founded Indian National Liberation Federation. He was also known by the sobriquet Rashtraguru. He was editor of "The Bengali" newspaper.