The British Indian Government was hostile to the Congress from the beginning despite the latter’s moderate methods and emphasis on loyalty to the British Crown.  

• The official attitude stiffened further after 1887 when the government failed to persuade the Congress to confine itself to social issues when the Congress was becoming increasingly critical of the colonial rule.  
• Now, the government resorted to open condemnation of the Congress, calling the nationalists “seditious brahmins”, “disloyal babus”, etc.  
• Dufferin called the Congress “a factory of sedition”. Later, the government adopted a ‘divide and rule’ policy towards the Congress.  

• The officials encouraged reactionary elements like Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and Raja Shiv Prasad Singh of Benaras to organise the United Indian Patriotic Association to counter Congress propaganda.  
• The government also tried to divide the nationalists on the basis of religion, and, through a policy of ‘carrot and stick’, pitted the Moderates against the Extremists. But the government failed to check the rising tide of nationalism. 

Source: Spectrum’s A Brief History of Modern India.