In studies of the history of the Indian National Congress a good deal of attention has been given to the manner in which different categories of India's population became, or did not become (or ceased to be) in association with it. This is, no doubt, a blunt approach that allows far too little for all the innumerable nuances that characterised the Congress' support (or shortfalls in support) that close, detailed, investigations reveal. Yet the broad brush was the fairly regular instrument of those who described these matters whilst the struggle with the British Raj was on. When, for example, in 1936 Rajendra Prasad wrote of the support which Congress enjoyed by that time, he specified ‘those who had been to school and college’ and ‘peasants and cultivators’ as its principal adherents, whilst listing ‘industrial and field workers’ as not as yet having come into its ranks in any significant numbers. The British similarly employed very broad categories when they came to identify both their principal supporters (e.g. ‘landlords’) and their opponents (e.g. ‘the student and teacher class’). As we shall see, it is noteworthy that in his listing in 1936 of supporters of the Congress Prasad did not specifically mention ‘the commercial communities’, whereas in the lists the British made these figured very largely. For in neglecting the commercial communities Prasad was anticipating the short shrift they have received from the majority of the modern generation of Indian historians – the present author amongst them.