In which year was the Gandhi-Irwin Pact signed?

The correct answer is C, Yusuf Meher Ali. The socialist leader Yusuf Meherally, who had been Mayor of Bombay, coined the words Quit India, just as he had coined Simon Go Back in 1928, and the Congress adopted the phrase for its resolution of 8 August 1942. Option A is wrong although it is tempting, because Gandhi gave the movement its other and more famous call, Do or Die, in his speech at Gowalia Tank; the name of the movement itself was not his coinage. Option B is wrong because Jawaharlal Nehru moved and defended the resolution in the All India Congress Committee but did not invent the slogan. Option D is wrong because Aruna Asaf Ali is remembered for hoisting the national flag at Gowalia Tank on 9 August 1942 and for leading the underground movement, not for the slogan. Keep the two names apart: Meherally the slogan, Gandhi the call.

The correct answer is C, 8 August 1942. The All India Congress Committee, meeting at Gowalia Tank in Bombay, passed the Quit India resolution on 8 August 1942, and Gandhi gave his Do or Die speech the same evening. The government arrested the entire leadership in the early hours of 9 August, so the movement spread as a leaderless rising. Option A is wrong because the session opened on 7 August but the resolution was adopted on the following day. Option B is wrong because 15 August is remembered for independence in 1947 and has no connection with the start of the movement. Option D is wrong because by 11 August the movement was already at its height, with strikes, attacks on police stations and railway lines in the United Provinces, Bihar and Bombay. A useful memory hook is the name August Kranti given to the movement and to the maidan where it began.

The correct answer is D, the Quit India Movement. Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the national flag at Gowalia Tank in Bombay on 9 August 1942, after the arrest of the senior leaders, and then went underground to direct the movement along with Jayaprakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia, which earned her the name Heroine of the 1942 movement. Option A is wrong because the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1920 to 1922 was led by Gandhi with the Ali brothers and the Khilafat leaders, before she entered public life. Option B is wrong because the best remembered women of the Civil Disobedience Movement are Sarojini Naidu, who led the raid on the Dharasana salt works, and Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay. Option C is wrong because Individual Satyagraha of 1940 is remembered for Vinoba Bhave as the first satyagrahi and Jawaharlal Nehru as the second.

The correct answer is A, the Nagpur session of December 1920. The programme of non-cooperation was first approved at the special session held in Calcutta in September 1920 and was ratified at the regular annual session at Nagpur in December 1920, which also changed the Congress constitution and made provincial committees on a linguistic basis. Option B is wrong because the Lucknow session of 1916 is remembered for the reunion of the Moderates and the Extremists and for the Lucknow Pact with the Muslim League. Option C is wrong because the Lahore session of December 1929, presided over by Jawaharlal Nehru, adopted the goal of Purna Swaraj and called for the observance of Independence Day on 26 January 1930. Option D is wrong because the Karachi session of 1931, presided over by Vallabhbhai Patel, endorsed the Gandhi-Irwin Pact and passed the resolution on fundamental rights and the national economic programme.

The correct answer is B, the Chauri Chaura incident. On 5 February 1922 a crowd at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur district of the United Provinces set fire to a police station and twenty two policemen died. Gandhi concluded that the people were not yet trained in non-violence and had the Congress Working Committee withdraw the movement at Bardoli on 12 February 1922, a decision that angered many younger leaders. Option A is wrong because the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 13 April 1919 was among the causes that led to the movement, not its ending. Option C is wrong because the Kakori conspiracy case of 1925 belongs to the revolutionary stream of the Hindustan Republican Association and came three years after the withdrawal. Option D is wrong because the protests against the Simon Commission took place in 1928 and 1929 and led towards the Civil Disobedience Movement.