Question : This retention of Rowlett legislation in the teeth of universal opposition is an affront to the nation. Its repeal is necessary to appraise national honour.
(2015)
Answer : The Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act, 1919 popularly known as the Rowlatt Act was a legislative act passed by the Imperial Legislative Council in Delhi on March 18, 1919, indefinitely extending the emergency measures of preventive indefinite detention, incarceration without trial and judicial review enacted in the Defence of India Act 1915 during the First World War.
It was enacted in light of a perceived threat from revolutionary nationalist organizations of re-engaging in similar conspiracies as ....
Question : M.K Gandhi made a gross mistake in championing the Khilafat cause an extra-territorial issue which cut at the very roots of Indian nationality.
(2014)
Answer : When India’s independence struggle was at its height, Gandhi realized that independence cannot come about by the efforts of the Hindus alone. Muslims too must be involved in the struggle. It is important to note that Muslim separation or Hindu involvement in the national movement is not a simple monochromatic affair. There were some Muslims already in the fold and many Hindus who supported the British rule. However, Gandhi decided to bring in the Muslim ....
Question : Gandhi body is in jail but his soul is with you India prestige is in your hands you must not use any violence under any circumstances. You will be beaten but you must not resist you must not raise a hand to ward off blows.
(2013)
Answer : Mohandas Gandhi had become a prominent political leader in India – an Indian who had read Thoreau, Emerson and the New Testament in addition to India’s sacred literature. Gandhi advocated non-violent protests against British rule, and when Gandhi’s protests spread among the masses, violence erupted – in the Punjab, in Gujarat and in the city of Delhi. And although Gandhi regretted the violence, he was not dissuaded from continuing his campaigns. In 1922, the British ....
Question : Discuss as to why the Congress accepted the partition of India in 1947.
(2009)
Answer : The Congress was not consistent on the Partition. On April 2, 1942, the Congress Working Committee criticized the secessionist idea. But at the same time Congress committee said that it cannot think in terms of compelling the people of any territorial unit to remain in the Indian Union against their declared and established will. Its election manifesto of 1945 reiterated this principle, thus setting at naught the Jagat Narain Lal resolution, adopted by the All ....
Question : Do you think that Quit India movement was a Spontaneous Revolution
(2009)
Answer : After civil Disobedience Movement no mass movement was led against British rule in India. Even this movement had to be called off half way not most of the sections of India and within Congress itself were not satisfied with the gains they could get so far. There was a great resentment among public and it was just a matter of time when they would raise against the foreigners.
They got this opportunity during world war second. ....
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 ....
