Question : Explain the circumstances leading to the alliance between the Khilafat and the Non-Cooperation Movements. Was it a politically wise step on the part of the Congress?
(2007)
Answer : During 1920-21 the Indian National Movement entered a new phase in a phase of mass politics and mass mobilization. The British rule was opposed through two mass movements, Khilafat and Non-cooperation Movement. Though emerging out of separate issues both these movements adopted a common programme of action. The technique of non-violent struggle was adopted a national level.
The background and the circumstances for the merger of the two movements were provided by the impact of the ....
Question : “At Karachi in 1931, the Congress defined what Swaraj would mean for the masses.”
(2007)
Answer : The Congress met at Karachi on 29th March 1931 to endorse the Gandhi-Irwin or the Delhi Pact. Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev had been executed despite Gandhji’s best efforts to save their lives. The Congress endorsed the Delhi Pact and reiterated the goal of Purna Swaraj.
The Karachi session became memorable for its resolution on the Fundamental Rights and the National Economic Programs. Even though the Congress had from its inception fought for the economic interests, ....
Question : In the summer of 1942 Gandhi was in a strange and uniquely militant mood.
(2003)
Answer : Britain and France joined together to placate Hitler. The Government of India immediately joined the war without consulting the National Congress or the elected members of the central legislature. While Congress was in full sympathy with the victims of fascist aggression, and was willing to help the forces of democracy in their struggle against fascism. So congress demanded freedom to participate actively in the struggle. The British government refused to accept this demand and tried ....
Question : “Gandhi restrained mass movement, yet he retained his popularity among the masses.”
(2002)
Answer : Gandhi was primarily a man of action and his own experiences in life helped him more than his readings in involving and shaping his ideology. He was able to arouse and unite all sections of the Indian people in a militant mass national movement. The struggle in South Africa created a new image of Gandhi that he was the leader of Indian people and not of any region or religious community. This worked as a ....
Question : ‘The Quit India Movement was a spontaneous revolt of the people against British rule’.
(2001)
Answer : ‘The Quit India Movement was a spontaneous revolt of people against British rule’
The All India Congress Committee met at Bombay on 8 August 1942. It passed the famous resolution, ‘Quit India’, and proposed the starting of a non-violent mass struggle under Gandhi’s leadership to achieve this aim. But on the very next day, Gandhi and other eminent leaders of the Congress were arrested. The Congress was once again declared illegal.
The news of these arrests left ....
Question : 'Gandhi' mystique consisted of a union of original ideas with a remarkable flair for tactics and an uncanny insight in the mass mind,' Elucidate.
(1999)
Answer : The Rowlatt Act of 1919 came like a sudden blow. To the people of India, promised extension of democracy during the war, the Government step appeared to be a cruel joke. It was like a hungry man expecting bread, being offered stones. Instead of democratic progress had come further restriction of civil liberties. Unrest spread in the country and powerful agitation agianst the Act arose. During this agitation, a new leader, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, took ....
Question : Trace the course of the pople's movement in Indian States after 1937. How did the Congress Leadership react to it?
(1996)
Answer : The major development after 1937 was the spread of national movement to the princely states. Appalling economic, political and social conditions prevailed in most of them. Peasants were oppresed, land revenue and taxation were excessive and unbearable, education war retarded, health and other social services were extremely backbward, and freedom of the Press and other Civil rights hardly existed. The bulk of the state revenues were spent on the luxuries of the princes. In several ....
Question : Economic changes in India from the late 1920s influenced the course of the country's politics. Elucidate.
(1995)
Answer : The 1930s witnessed the nation-wide awakening and organisation of the peasants and workers in India. The two nationalist mass movements of 1920-22 and 1930-34 had politicised the peasants and workers on a large scale. The economic depression that hit India and the world after 1929 also worsened the conditions of the presents and workers in India. The prices of agricultural products dropped by over 50 per cent by the end of 1932. The employers tried ....
