The 'Swadeshi' and 'Boycott' were adopted as methods of struggle for the first time during the
- A.agitation against the Partition of Bengal
- B.Home Rule Movement
- C.Non-Cooperation Movement
- D.visit of the Simon Commission to India
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, agitation against the Partition of Bengal. Swadeshi and boycott were first adopted as national methods of struggle in the movement against Lord Curzon's partition of Bengal.
The partition was announced in July 1905 and took effect on 16 October 1905. At a meeting in the Calcutta Town Hall on 7 August 1905 the boycott of British goods was formally adopted, and the Congress session at Benares that year under G. K. Gokhale supported it; the Calcutta session of 1906 under Dadabhai Naoroji adopted Swadeshi as a goal. Foreign cloth was burnt, Indian mills, banks and national schools were set up, and leaders like Tilak, Lajpat Rai, Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurobindo Ghosh spread the movement.
B is wrong because the Home Rule Movement of 1916 came a decade later. C is wrong because the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1920 revived boycott on a mass scale but did not first adopt it. D is wrong because the Simon Commission came in 1928, when 'Simon Go Back' protests were held.
Exam tip: Swadeshi-Boycott = 1905 Bengal partition; boycott resolution 7 August 1905.
Practice Questions
View allThe Ryotwari experiment in land revenue was started by
- A.Henry Dundas
- B.Alexander Reed
- C.David Ricardo
- D.Mountstuart Elphinstone
Show answer
Captain Alexander Read (the name is also spelt Reed) began the Ryotwari experiment in 1792 in the Baramahal region, which the Company had taken from Tipu Sultan, with Thomas Munro as one of his assistants.
Read the full explanation →Who deciphered the Brahmi and Kharoshthi scripts?
- A.Piyadassi
- B.Colin Mackenzie
- C.Alexander Cunningham
- D.James Prinsep
Show answer
Prinsep, an official of the East India Company's mint and secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, deciphered the Brahmi script in 1837 and also made the key breakthrough in reading Kharoshthi.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements about the Justice Party is not correct?
- A.It clamoured for the same kind of separate communal representation for the Non-Brahmins as had been granted to the Muslims by the Morley-Minto Reforms.
- B.It was patronized mainly by richer landowning and urban middle class Non-Brahmins.
- C.It succeeded in getting the provision for 28 reserved seats for the Non-Brahmins in the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms.
- D.It supported the call given by the Congress to boycott elections in 1920.
Show answer
The Justice Party did not join the Congress boycott of the 1920 elections; it contested them, won a majority in the Madras Legislative Council and formed the first ministry under the new reforms.
Read the full explanation →Which organization was started at the Haridwar Kumbh Mela in 1915?
- A.Sanatan Dharma Sabha
- B.Dev Samaj
- C.Brahmin Sabha
- D.Hindu Mahasabha
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The All-India Hindu Mahasabha held its founding session at Haridwar during the Kumbh Mela of 1915, bringing together the provincial Hindu Sabhas that had grown up, first in Punjab, since 1909.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements about the All India Depressed Classes Association is not correct?
- A.The All India Depressed Classes Association was formed in Nagpur with M. C. Rajah as its first elected President.
- B.The All India Depressed Classes Association was not attended by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in 1926.
- C.Ambedkar resigned from the All India Depressed Classes Association and formed his own All India Depressed Classes Congress in 1930.
- D.The All India Depressed Classes Association favoured Ambedkar's demand for separate electorate for the depressed classes.
Show answer
The All India Depressed Classes Association did not back Ambedkar's demand for a separate electorate; under M. C. Rajah it supported joint electorates with seats reserved for the depressed classes.
Read the full explanation →