Nationalist Movement Phase 2 (1919-1939) - 1 - Free MCQ Practice Test

1 and 2 only.

Statement 1 - True. Sachindra Nath Sanyal was a key organizer and one of the founding leaders of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), which was established in 1924 to carry out armed revolutionary activity against British rule.

Statement 2 - True. Ram Prasad Bismil was a founding member of the HRA and played a prominent role in its planning and operations.

Statement 3 - False. Khudiram Bose was associated with earlier revolutionary groups (notably Jugantar) and was executed on 11 August 1908, well before the HRA was formed in 1924, so he was not a member.

1, 2, 3 and 4

Statement (1) - Kisan Sabhas in the United Provinces: True. Peasant organisations and kisan sabhas in Awadh/United Provinces, which had been active from about 1918, merged into and strengthened the mass base of the Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-22), mobilising peasants on issues such as rents and landlord oppression.

Statement (2) - Strike of labourers in Assam tea plantations: True. Tea-garden labour unrest and strikes in Assam in and around 1921 formed part of the broader labour and agrarian agitation influenced by the Non-Cooperation and Khilafat campaigns.

Statement (3) - Hartal against the arrival of the Prince of Wales: True. During the Prince of Wales' tour of India in 1921-22, hartals and organised protests were mounted as expressions of non-cooperation and public opposition allied to the movement.

Statement (4) - Peasant uprising in the Malabar region: True. The Malabar Rebellion (Mappila riots) of 1921 erupted in the context of Khilafat and Non-Cooperation agitation, representing a major peasant and tenant uprising in the region.

All four events listed occurred in the period and context of the Non-Cooperation Movement, so the combined option shown above is correct.

None.

Explanation: At the 1929 Lahore Congress session the Congress adopted Purna Swaraj and decided to launch a programme of Civil Disobedience (with key actions beginning on January 26, 1930), but this programme did not receive support from the three parties named.

Justice Party - The Madras-based Justice Party was a regional, pro-British non-Brahmin party that opposed the Congress leadership and its mass non-cooperation tactics; it did not endorse the Civil Disobedience programme.

All-India Muslim League - By the late 1920s the League under its leadership preferred constitutional and communal safeguards rather than Gandhian mass agitation; it did not back the Congress call for all-out civil disobedience.

Hindu Mahasabha - As a right-wing Hindu organisation critical of Congress's policies and methods, the Mahasabha did not support Congress's Civil Disobedience movement.

Therefore, none of the three organisations supported the civil disobedience plan that emerged from the 1929 Lahore Congress.

2 only

Statement 1 is incorrect. The sentence of six years' transportation to Mandalay was imposed on Bal Gangadhar Tilak (convicted in 1908), not on Bipin Chandra Pal. Bipin Chandra Pal was an extremist leader but was neither deported to Mandalay nor given that specific sentence.

Statement 2 is correct. After his involvement in the Alipore Bomb Case (arrested in 1908 and later released), Aurobindo Ghosh withdrew from active politics and relocated to Pondicherry (around 1910) to pursue a spiritual life, becoming known thereafter as Sri Aurobindo.

A: 1 only

Under the Government of India Act, 1935, provincial elections were held in the winter of 1936-37 across eleven British Indian provinces; the envisaged federal body never came into being because princely states did not join the federation, so no federal elections were held. Hence the first statement is correct.

Congress formed ministries in seven provinces - Madras, Bombay, United Provinces, Central Provinces, Bihar, Orissa and NWFP. It did not form ministries in Bengal, Punjab, Assam and Sindh. Therefore the second statement is incorrect.

Conclusion: only the first statement is correct.

A: 1 only

Statement 1 is correct. The Pirpur Committee (1938) was constituted by the All-India Muslim League after the 1937 provincial elections to investigate complaints against several Congress ministries. Its main work was to collect evidence and compile a report documenting alleged discriminatory actions and communal bias by those provincial governments.

Statement 2 is incorrect. The committee was appointed by the All-India Muslim League, not by the British Parliament.

Hence, only statement 1 is correct.

B: 2 only

Statement 1 is correct. At the Surat session, 1907, the Moderates backed Rash Behari Ghosh as the candidate for Congress president; this contest over the presidency was a key trigger for the clash between the two wings.

Statement 2 is incorrect.Gopal Krishna Gokhale was a leading figure of the Moderates and remained aligned with Moderate policies (constitutional methods and gradual reform). The Extremists were led by figures such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai, who favoured mass agitation, Swadeshi and boycott.

The disagreement at Surat-over leadership and methods (Moderates' constitutional approach versus Extremists' mass action)-led to the split and the walkout of the Extremist group.

2 only

Statement 1 is incorrect. The group known as the Swarajists (led by Motilal Nehru and C.R. Das) advocated entering the legislative councils to obstruct and expose British policies from within. Those who opposed council entry - often called the No-Changers (including Rajendra Prasad, Vallabhbhai Patel, and C. Rajagopalachari) - favored continuing constructive work outside the councils, such as promoting khadi, spinning, village industries and basic education.

Statement 2 is correct. The debate between these two approaches arose after the suspension of the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1922, when the Congress faced a choice between entering legislative councils or continuing anti-colonial work outside them.

All three

Statement 1 is correct. The Justice Party (South Indian Liberal Federation), founded in 1916, organized to challenge Brahmin dominance in public life and to promote the interests of non-Brahmin communities-especially in access to education and in government employment-pressing for measures such as reservations and greater representation in public services and local bodies.

Statement 2 is correct. The party positioned itself against the Congress, which it viewed as dominated by Brahmin leadership, and it rejected Congress's mass anti-colonial tactics such as the Non-Cooperation Movement (1920). As a result, the Justice Party generally adopted a pro-government stance and cooperated with the colonial administration rather than following Congress's boycott policies.

Statement 3 is correct. The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms (1919) introduced provincial self-government and dyarchy, and the first provincial elections in 1920-21-which Congress largely boycotted-enabled the Justice Party to form the government in the Madras Presidency in the early 1920s.

Therefore, all three statements are factually correct.

C: 2 and 3 only

Statement 1 is incorrect. The organization was founded by Ashwini Kumar Dutta (not Krishnakumar Mitra); he set up the Swadesh Bandhab Samiti in Barisal during the Swadeshi period (around 1905) to mobilize rural support.

Statement 2 is correct. The Samiti's primary social base was the Muslim peasantry of Barisal, making it distinctive from many urban, middle-class Swadeshi organizations and helping spread nationalist ideas in the countryside.

Statement 3 is correct. The Samiti ran local arbitration courts as alternatives to colonial courts, organised Swadeshi crafts training to promote economic self-reliance, and provided famine relief, combining social service with political mobilisation.

Therefore, only statements 2 and 3 are correct.

2 only

Statement 1 - Incorrect: Although Motilal Nehru and C.R. (Chittaranjan) Das were the main founders of the Swaraj Party (formed in early 1923), C. Rajagopalachari did not support council-entry; he belonged to the group that opposed re-entering legislative councils and favored constructive work outside the councils.

Statement 2 - Correct: The Swarajists employed council-entry and obstructionist tactics in the Central Legislative Assembly and succeeded on occasions in defeating measures such as the Public Safety Bill, demonstrating effective parliamentary opposition to specific government proposals.

Statement 3 - Incorrect: The Swarajists were unable to maintain consistent coordination between their legislative tactics and sustained mass mobilisation outside the councils; their base remained largely elite and urban, and they could not reliably synchronise parliamentary action with a nationwide mass movement.

Hence, only the second statement is correct.

All three

Rash Behari Bose was one of the principal organizers of the 1912 conspiracy that attacked Viceroy Lord Hardinge, and is widely regarded as a key conspirator in that plot.

Having taken refuge in Japan in 1915, he led Indian expatriate political activity there and played a central role in founding the Indian Independence League in 1942, serving as a leading organizer and representative.

He also carried out vital organizational groundwork for the formation of the Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army), persuading Japanese authorities to support recruitment and helping to organize Indian POWs and expatriates-work that directly enabled the INA's later formations.

Only two.

Statement 1 is correct: the All-India Muslim League was established at the annual session of the All India Muhammadan Educational Conference held in Dacca on 30 December 1906, a meeting strongly supported by Nawab Salimullah.

Statement 2 is incorrect: although Nawab Salimullah was the local host and a key patron of the gathering, the League's first president was Aga Khan III (Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah), elected at the founding meeting.

Statement 3 is correct: the League's organisational rules and early constitution were compiled in a document commonly referred to as the Green Book (prepared in the period around 1907-08), which served as its initial constitutional framework.

Hence, two of the statements are correct (the first and the third).

C: 3-1-2

The correct chronological order is 3 → 1 → 2.

Yugantar was launched in 1906 as the revolutionary weekly associated with the Jugantar group; it followed the Swadeshi movement and the radicalisation after the 1905 Partition, providing ideological and organisational impetus to militant nationalism.

The Barrah dacoity (executed by the Dacca Anushilan Samiti) took place subsequently, around 1910, as part of a series of dacoities and robberies carried out by revolutionaries to raise funds and procure arms for underground activity.

The bomb attack on Viceroy Lord Hardinge occurred on 23 December 1912 during the Delhi ceremonial procession; it was planned by Rashbehari Bose with involvement of Sachindranath Sanyal and other Bengal revolutionaries, marking the movement's expansion to all-India actions.

The strategy during the Individual Satyagraha, where satyagrahis, after making anti-war declarations, were directed to march towards Delhi in case they were not arrested.

This describes the Individual Satyagraha launched by the Congress in October 1940 (period 1940-41) after Indian leaders protested Britain's entry into World War II without consulting Indian opinion. Mahatma Gandhi selected individual protesters to make public anti-war declarations; the first satyagrahi chosen was Vinoba Bhave.

Under the programme each selected satyagrahi publicly declared opposition to India's forced participation in the war and offered to submit to arrest; if the authorities did not immediately detain them they were instructed to proceed towards Delhi to dramatize their protest. That directive to converge on the capital is referred to as Delhi Chalo. The campaign was deliberately individual and non-mass in character, aimed at keeping non-violent protest alive without launching full-scale civil disobedience.

Thus, Delhi Chalo is specifically associated with the Individual Satyagraha of 1940-41 and is not part of the earlier Non-Cooperation Movement, the Quit India Movement (1942), or any separate 1947 mass pressure drive for immediate transfer of power.

They widened their democratic base through increase in scope of their demands.

This statement is not an achievement of the moderate phase (roughly 1885-1905) of the Indian National Congress. The moderates were primarily an urban, educated elite who relied on petitions, deputations and constitutional methods, placed faith in British liberalism, and avoided mass agitation; as a result they did not significantly broaden the party's social base or mobilize large sections of peasants and workers.

Actual accomplishments of the moderates included exposing the economic exploitation of colonial rule (notably through Dadabhai Naoroji's Drain Theory), creating a sense of national unity across regions and communities, and training leaders and the public in modern political work-through meetings, the press, resolutions and legislative engagement-thus building political awareness and public opinion.

Therefore, the claim that they widened their democratic base by increasing the scope of their demands was not one of their achievements.

Non-Cooperation movement - launched by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920, it was the first Congress initiative to directly mobilize broad sections of the population and to open party membership to all men and women aged 21.

Immediate causes included the Rowlatt Act (1919) and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre; the movement also joined forces with the Khilafat movement to widen its appeal across communities.

The programme was accepted at the special Calcutta session (September 1920) and endorsed at the Nagpur session (December 1920).

Key measures advocated were surrendering honorary titles, boycotting foreign goods and institutions (including government schools and courts), establishing national schools and industries (Swadeshi), maintaining Hindu-Muslim unity, and strict adherence to non-violence.

The movement had a massive mobilizing impact but was suspended in 1922 after the Chauri Chaura incident, when violence broke the campaign's non-violent discipline.

Zakir Hussain Committee. After the Wardha conference in October 1937, a committee under Dr. Zakir Hussain was appointed to draft a national scheme for Nai-Talim (Basic Education).

The committee endorsed Gandhian principles and recommended education based on productive work and a craft-centred curriculum, with the mother-tongue as the medium of instruction. It emphasized the integration of manual and intellectual training, character building, and making schools at least partly self-supporting.

Key recommendations included provision for free and compulsory primary education, reducing formal book learning in early years, and linking schooling to local crafts and livelihoods-ideas that influenced later debates on elementary education in India even though they were not uniformly implemented.

To secure foreign aid and arms for an armed uprising in India

The Zimmermann Plan was a German-backed element of the wider Hindu-German Conspiracy during World War I. It involved the Berlin Committee (also called the Indian Independence Committee), operating with support from the German Foreign Office, and sought to obtain arms, funds and diplomatic assistance to provoke and sustain an armed revolt against British rule in India (the Committee was formed in 1915).

Practical efforts under this scheme included attempts to ship weapons and ammunition, to recruit Indian POWs and expatriates for revolutionary activity, and to cultivate alliances or missions in regions such as Kabul, Persia and the Ottoman-controlled Middle East so as to destabilize British control and encourage mutiny among Indian troops.

Why the other options are incorrect: the initiative was not primarily an international press campaign (there were propaganda activities but these were secondary), it was not an attempt to negotiate political concessions like dominion status from Britain, and its focus was on supplying and organizing armed resistance rather than planning an assassination of the Viceroy.

Because its central aim was to secure foreign aid and arms to support armed insurrection, the given option is the most accurate description of the plan's primary objective.

S. Subramania Iyer - He returned his knighthood in 1917 in protest against the arrest and internment of Annie Besant (detained under the Defence of India Act) and the suppression of the Home Rule League agitation.

Context: Annie Besant had emerged as a leading voice of the Home Rule movement in India (1916-18). Her detention in 1917 provoked widespread condemnation, and prominent Indian public figures, including Sir S. Subramania Iyer, returned honours to signal their solidarity with the movement and protest government repression.

• Statement 1: Incorrect
  Rahimtullah M. Sayani was not the first Muslim president of the INC.
  The first was Badruddin Tyabji.
• Statement 2 : Correct
  The song Vande Mataram was indeed first sung at the 1896 Calcutta session.
• Statement 3 : Incorrect
  The session was held in Calcutta (now Kolkata), not Madras.

Hence, Correct answer is Option C.

• Statement-I: The Ramgarh Session of the Indian National Congress (INC) gave a new direction to India's freedom struggle: Correct.
  The session marked a crucial phase in the struggle by paving the way for the Quit India Movement and intensifying the demand for independence.

• Statement-II: The Congress finally declared at the Ramgarh Session that the people of India would accept nothing short of complete independence. Incorrect.

  • The demand for complete independence (Purna Swaraj) was already declared in the Lahore Session of 1929.
  • The Ramgarh Session focused on rejecting British attempts to involve India in World War II without independence rather than making a fresh declaration of complete independence.

Therefore, Correct Answer - Option B

The Haripura Session of 1938:

• At the Congress meeting in Haripura (Gujarat), in February, 1938, Bose was unanimously elected the President of the Session. He was firm in his belief that the Congress Ministries in the Provinces had immense revolutionary potential, as he said in his presidential address.
• Bose also talked of economic development of the country through planning and was instrumental in setting up a National Planning Committee under the Chairmanship of Jawahar Lal Nehru.
• The Session adopted a resolution that the Congress would give moral support to those who were agitating against the governance in the Princely States.
• The Congress announced its aim to attain complete independence for the whole of India, including the Princely States. They demanded a responsible government and the guarantee of civil liberties in the states.

• The Ramgarh session of the Congress was held in March 1940 with Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in the president’s chair. Hence statement 1 is correct.
• All agreed that a battle must be waged but there was disagreement over the form.
• It was decided to leave the form and timing to Gandhi. But even now, Gandhi was in favour of continued cooperation at the provincial level. He said that he would offer the British moral support during the war but on a non-violent basis.
• However, Jawaharlal Nehru reiterated that complete independence for India must be a precondition for Congress support to the British war effort.
• Subhash Bose continued with his strong militant stand of direct action against the colonial government forcing it to agree to the grant of freedom. Once again he pointed out that Britain’s difficulty was to be seized as India’s opportunity.
• The Congress finally declared at the session that the people of India would accept nothing short of complete independence. Indian freedom could not be in the form of dominion or any other status within the imperial structure. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• Sovereignty, said the Congress resolution, must rest with the people, whether in the States (the princely states) or the provinces. Hence statement 3 is correct.
• It was also decided that “Congress would resort to civil disobedience as soon as the Congress organisation is considered fit enough or if circumstances precipitate a crisis.”