Question : “Politics remained for the bulk of the Moderates very much a part-time affair. The Congress was not a political party, but an annual three-day show…” Elucidate.
(2014)
Answer : The statement reminds the imperialist view of Indian National Congress formed in 1885, led by prominent players of that time. The composition of the INC at that time was not broad-based and with their style of functioning, they were called moderates. Whatever may their method of protest, there is no doubt about their commitment towards India, though their view of British rule was not very realistic. They were an emerging threat to the British rule ....
Question : “The Anti-Partition Agitation (1909) had an economic character in Bengal unlike the Extremist Agitation in Maharashtra which had a religious character.” Examine.
(2014)
Answer : Anti partition movement was one of the major events in the history of Indian freedom movement. It was started in 1905 as an agitation against the partition of Bengal and it spread to other parts of the country including Maharashtra. The Slogans of Swaraj, the concepts of boycott, National Education and the spirit of Swadeshi were spread from Bengal to Maharashtra along with other regions. This movement took different line of actions in different states ....
Question : “At the dawn of the twentieth century Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, was full of hostility towards the Indian National Congress and he confidentially reported to the Secretary of State in November 1900 : My own belief is that the Congress is tottering to its fall, and one of my greatest ambitions while in India is to’ assist it to a peaceful demise.” Examine.
(2013)
Answer : At the beginning of 1899 Lord Elgin was succeeded by Lord Curzon of Kedleston, who was then in his fortieth year, and had achieved high distinction in Parliament and as a traveller in Asia. He proved himself to be one of the ablest in the long series of Governors-General.
Consciously or unconsciously, he seems to have taken as his model Lord Dalhousie. Lord Curzon, like his prototype, was masterful, full of consuming energy, and devoted to ....
Question : The developments during 1937-1939 greatly undermined the ability of the INC to push through the agenda of national unity. Comment.
(2010)
Answer : The year 1937 emerged as land mark in the history of Muslim separation; for it marked the virulent form of communalisms. It marked the beginning of communal politics based on fear and hatred. Communal forces began to acquire popular base and organise mass movement.
Circumstances leading to Muslim League communal politics to be viewed in light of elections of 1937 and their result. Muslim League performed very poorly, it won only 109 out of 492 reserved ....
Question : Discuss the extent to which the Indian renaissance movement contributed toward the sure of nationalist consciousness.
(2010)
Answer : The renaissance movement symbolised the social reform movement which were the 1st efforts to redeem India from the state of all round degradation and to spread this sprit of revival and recreation from sphere to sphere of national life.
These movement were Quiet Revolution-a revolution in social and cultural realm. These movement generated a social climate for reforms this was an attempt to transform the existing social milieu an attempt to rejuvenate the socio-cultural system.
The moments ....
Question : “Please remember, in granting separate electorates we are sowing the dragons’s teeth and harvest will be bitter.”
(2009)
Answer : Separate electorate was granted to the Muslims by the act of 1909. Indian Councils Act of 1909, commonly known as the Morley-Minto Reforms, began when John Morley, the Liberal Secretary of State for India, and the Conservative Governor-General of India, The Earl of Minto, had to face both moderates and extremists during Swadeshi movement.The Act of 1909 stipulated, as demanded by the Muslim leadership that Indian Muslims be allotted reserved seats in the Municipal and ....
Question : Analyze the social composition of the early Congress leadership.
(2009)
Answer : Indian National Congress was founded in 1885. Its founding members belonged to educated middle class. They had got English education and had firm faith in British providence. They wanted to improve the condition of Indian people under the guidance of British benevolence. They had no mass support. They wanted to keep their movement restricted to upper middle class as they were of opinion that people in general were not educated enough to understand the basic ....
Question : Trace the factors which led to a split in the Indian National Congress in 1907. What was its impact on the course of the nationalist movement?
(2003)
Answer : The closing decade of the 19th century and early years of 20th century witnessed the emergence of a new and younger group within the Indian National Congress which was sharply critical of the ideology and methods of the old leadership. These angry young men advocated the adoption of Swaraj as the goal of the congress to be achieved by more self-reliant and independent methods. The new group came to be called the extremist party in ....
Question : Rabindranath Tagore’s nationalism was based on a catholic internationalism.
(2003)
Answer : Tagore’s concepts about ‘nation’ and ‘state’ were not of Indian origin. He held the view that it was of European origin. To him state is an “organization for power”. The concept of Nation state may have suffered due to it. The “Nation is the greatest evil for the nation”. They “trade on the feebleness of the rest of world”. It aims at success and not goodness. It is collective selfishness at the cost of morality. ....
Question : “India broke her British fetters with Western hammers.”
(2002)
Answer : The rise of national consciousness in the 19th century was essentially the result of the British rule. The economic, political and social changes brought about by the British rule resulted in the oppression of all classes of Indian people giving rise to a wide spread dissatisfaction among the masses. The uniform system of administration, development of postal and telegraph, railways, printing press and educational institutions created by the British primarily as measures for running an ....
Question : Examine the economic and social factors which led to the rise of Indian nationalism in the second half of the nineteenth century.
(2001)
Answer : The second half of the 19th century witnessed the full flowering of national political conciousness and the growth of an organised national movement in India. Its foundation lay in the fact that increasingly British rule became the major cause of India’s economic backwardness.
Every class, every section of Indian society gradually discovered that its interests were suffering at the hands of the foreign rulers. The peasant saw that the Government took away a large part of ....
Question : To what extent was the emergence of the Congress in 1885 the culmination of a process of political awakening that had its beginning in the 1870s?
(2000)
Answer : By the 1870s it was evident that Indian nationalism had gathered enough strength and momentum to appear asa major force on the Indian political scene. The Indian National Congress, founded in December 1885, was the first organised expression of the Indian National Movement on an all-India scale. It had, however, many predecessors. As we have seen in an earlier chapter, Raja Rammohan Roy was the first Indian leader to start an agitation for political reforms ....
Question : The Indian Middile Class firmly believed that. Britain had imposed a colonial eocnomy on India which had impoverished the country'.
(1999)
Answer : The foundation of the Indian nationalist movement lay in the fact that increasingly British rule became the major cause of India's economic backwardness. It became the major barrier to India's further economic, social, cultural, intellectual and political development. Eveyry class, every section of Indian society, gradually discovered that its interest were suffering at the hands of the foreign rulers. The rising intelligentsia- the educated Indians – used their newly acquired modern knowledge to understand the ....
Question : 'Curzon'z Partition of Bengal gave the unwitting initiative to events of magnitude and returned many years later to part with the cargo of freedom'.
(1997)
Answer : On 20 July 1905, Lord Curzon issued an order dividing the province of Bengal into two parts : Eastern Bengal and Assam with a population of 31 million, and the rest of Bengal with a population of 54 million, of whome 18 million were Bengalis and 36 million Biharis and Oriyas. It was said that the existing province of Bengal was too big to be efficiently administered by a single provincial government. However, the officials ....
Question : 'India after 1905 had new interests and objectives and compelled new lines of policy'.
(1996)
Answer : While the moderates had infinite faith in the efficiency of constitutional agitation, and British sense of justice and fairplay, the extremists had no faith in the 'benevolence' of the British public or Parliament nor were they convinced of the efficiency of merely holding conferences. The new leadership sought to create a passionate love for liberty, accompained by a spirit of sacrifices and a readiness to suffer for the cause of the country. They strove to ....
